Causal Emergence in Quantum Systems: A First-Principles Simulation of the Double-Slit Experiment

This paper presents a first-principles physical simulation of the double-slit experiment to investigate causal emergence in quantum systems. Unlike traditional approaches that rely on pre-sampled distributions, our simulation generates particle trajectories from fundamental physical laws, incorporating quantum interference potential and decoherence effects. We demonstrate that quantum coherence leads to causal emergence, where macroscopic descriptions contain more information than microscopic ones, as quantified by effective information (EI). The simulation reveals a phase transition at a critical decoherence strength, beyond which causal emergence disappears. Our results provide computational evidence for the theoretical framework of causal emergence in quantum mechanics and highlight the role of observation in altering explanatory power. The methodology avoids data filtering bias by generating trajectories self-consistently from physical principles.