Device-independent certification of indefinite causal order in the quantum switch

Quantum theory is compatible with scenarios in which the order of operations is indefinite. Experimental investigations of such scenarios, all of which have been based on a process known as the quantum switch, have provided demonstrations of indefinite causal order conditioned on assumptions on the devices used in the laboratory. But is a device-independent certification possible, similar to the certification of Bell nonlocality through the violation of Bell inequalities? Previous results have shown that the answer is negative if the switch is considered in isolation. Here, however, we present an inequality that can be used to device-independently certify indefinite causal order in the quantum switch in the presence of an additional spacelike-separated observer under an assumption asserting the impossibility of superluminal and retrocausal influences. Quantum theory allows for indefinite causal order, but experimental demonstrations of such scenarios have so far required trust in the internal functioning of the apparatus. Here, the authors point out a scenario where indefinite causal order could be certified in a device-independent way, if one excludes superluminal and retrocausal influences.