Reichenbach's principle of a probabilistic common cause of probabilistic correlations is formulated in terms of relativistic quantum field theory and the problem is raised whether correlations in relativistic quantum field theory between events represented by projections in local observable algebras A(V1) and A(V2) pertaining to spacelike separated spacetime regions V1 and V2 can be explained by finding a probabilistic common cause of the correlation in Reichenbach's sense. While this problem remains open, it is shown that if all superluminal correlations predicted by the vacuum state between events in A(V1) and A(V2) have a genuinely probabilistic common cause, then the local algebras A(V1) and A(V2) must be statistically independent in the sense of C*-independence.

On Reichenbach’s common cause principle and