Abstract Within the field of causal inference, it is desirable to learn the structure of causal relationships holding between a system of variables from the correlations that these variables exhibit; a sub-problem of which is to certify whether or not a given causal hypothesis is compatible with...

Certain issues regarding the time-scales over which environment-induced decoherence occurs, and the nature of emergent pointer states, are discussed. A model system, namely a Stern–Gerlach setup coupled to a quantum mechanical “heat-bath” is studied. The emergent pointer states for this...