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arXiv:2606.23770

Unified Entropic Dynamics Framework for Classical, and Quantum Wave Equations

Shahid Nawaz, Muhammad Saleem, M. S. Anwar, Dalaver Hussain Anjum

Published Jun 22, 2026• 0 citations

Abstract

Entropic Dynamics (ED) provides a statistical-inferential foundation for physical laws, deriving motion and field equations from principles of entropy maximization rather than quantization postulates. ED reconstructs quantum mechanics by treating the evolution of probability distributions on configuration space as driven by information constraints, yielding the Schrodinger equation as a non-dissipative diffusion process. Building on this foundation, the present work extends the ED framework into a Unified Entropic Dynamics (UED) formulation that encompasses classical, quantum, relativistic, thermodynamic, and gravitational phenomena within a single information geometric principle. By maximizing entropy subject to constraints on diffusion, drift, and gauge covariance over a manifold endowed with a supermetric H_ab, we derive a universal field equation that merges the Fokker-Planck and Hamilton-Jacobi structures into one covariant form. When specialized to different dynamical variables, this equation reproduces the harmonic oscillator, Schrodinger, Maxwell, Klein-Gordon, and gravitational wave equations, thereby revealing a deep equivalence between probabilistic inference and dynamical law. The UED framework demonstrates that spacetime geometry, quantum coherence and thermodynamic diffusion emerge as complementary expressions of the same entropic process, establishing a unified inferential foundation for both microscopic and macroscopic physics. In this formulation, energy, probability, and entropy are intertwined aspects of information geometry, providing a consistent inferential foundation for understanding classical, quantum, and gravitational dynamics as complementary expressions of a single entropic law.

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2606.23770

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Abstract Entropic Dynamics (ED) is a framework in which Quantum Mechanics (QM) is derived as an application of entropic methods of inference. The magnitude of the wave function is manifestly epistemic: its square is a probability distribution. The epistemic nature of the phase of the wave function is also clear: it controls the flow of probability. The dynamics is driven by entropy subject to constraints that capture the relevant physical information. The central concern is to identify those constraints and how they are updated. After reviewing previous work I describe how considerations from information geometry allow us to derive a phase space geometry that combines Riemannian, symplectic, and complex structures. The ED that preserves these structures is QM. The full equivalence between ED and QM is achieved by taking account of how gauge symmetry and charge quantization are intimately related to quantum phases and the single‐valuedness of wave functions.

Entropic Dynamics (ED) is a framework in which Quantum Mechanics is derived as an application of entropic methods of inference. In ED the dynamics of the probability distribution is driven by entropy subject to constraints that are codified into a quantity later identified as the phase of the wave function. The central challenge is to specify how those constraints are themselves updated. In this paper we review and extend the ED framework in several directions. A new version of ED is introduced in which particles follow smooth differentiable Brownian trajectories (as opposed to non-differentiable Brownian paths). To construct ED we make use of the fact that the space of probabilities and phases has a natural symplectic structure (i.e., it is a phase space with Hamiltonian flows and Poisson brackets). Then, using an argument based on information geometry, a metric structure is introduced. It is shown that the ED that preserves the symplectic and metric structures—which is a Hamilton-Killing flow in phase space—is the linear Schrödinger equation. These developments allow us to discuss why wave functions are complex and the connections between the superposition principle, the single-valuedness of wave functions, and the quantization of electric charges. Finally, it is observed that Hilbert spaces are not necessary ingredients in this construction. They are a clever but merely optional trick that turns out to be convenient for practical calculations.

Entropic dynamics (ED) is a framework that allows one to derive quantum theory as a Hamilton-Killing flow on the cotangent bundle of a statistical manifold. These flows are such that they preserve the symplectic and the (information) metric geometries; they explain the linearity of quantum mechanics and the appearance of complex numbers. In this paper the ED framework is extended to deal with local gauge symmetries. More specifically, on the basis of maximum entropy methods and information geometry, for an appropriate choice of ontic variables and constraints, we derive the quantum electrodynamics of radiation fields interacting with charged particles. As a test that despite its unorthodox foundation the ED approach is empirically successful we derive the Maxwell equations.

This paper introduces the Total Entropic Quantity (TEQ) framework, a structural reformulation of quantum theory grounded in two foundational axioms. Axiom 0 posits entropy as a generative constraint: a geometric principle that determines which configurations can stably distinguish themselves, independent of space, time, or dynamics. Here, entropy is defined as a curvature-functional over distinguishability configurations, preserving only those patterns that remain stable under finite informational resolution---that is, structures not dissolved by coarse-graining or limited observability. Axiom 1, the Minimal Principle (MP), selects from these structures those that are maximally stable under entropy-weighted variation. From this entropic foundation, core elements of quantum theory---including the Born rule, quantization, and Schrödinger dynamics---emerge as special cases of entropy-stabilized geometry. The framework derives an entropy-weighted path integral and introduces a corrected Schrödinger equation that governs evolution in regimes of finite entropy curvature. In the high-resolution limit (

\beta \to \infty

), TEQ reduces to standard unitary quantum mechanics; in more general regimes, entropy flow deforms canonical dynamics, linking decoherence, dissipation, and gravitational curvature. TEQ reinterprets physical law as emergent structure within the geometry of distinguishability, rather than as imposed dynamics on a fixed spacetime background.

This paper introduces the Total Entropic Quantity (TEQ) framework, a structural reformulation of quantum theory grounded in two foundational axioms. Axiom 0 posits entropy as a generative constraint: a geometric principle that determines which configurations can stably distinguish themselves, independent of space, time, or dynamics. Here, entropy is defined as a curvature-functional over distinguishability configurations, preserving only those patterns that remain stable under finite informational resolution---that is, structures not dissolved by coarse-graining or limited observability. Axiom 1, the Minimal Principle (MP), selects from these structures those that are maximally stable under entropy-weighted variation. From this entropic foundation, core elements of quantum theory---including the Born rule, quantization, and Schrödinger dynamics---emerge as special cases of entropy-stabilized geometry. The framework derives an entropy-weighted path integral and introduces a corrected Schrödinger equation that governs evolution in regimes of finite entropy curvature. In the high-resolution limit (

\beta \to \infty

), TEQ reduces to standard unitary quantum mechanics; in more general regimes, entropy flow deforms canonical dynamics, linking decoherence, dissipation, and gravitational curvature. TEQ reinterprets physical law as emergent structure within the geometry of distinguishability, rather than as imposed dynamics on a fixed spacetime background.

Entropic Dynamics (ED) is a framework that allows the formulation of dynamical theories as an application of entropic methods of inference. In the generic application of ED to derive the Schrödinger equation for N particles the dynamics is a non-dissipative diffusion in which the system follows a "Brownian" trajectory with fluctuations superposed on a smooth drift. We show that there is a family of ED models that differ at the "microscopic" or sub-quantum level in that one can enhance or suppress the fluctuations relative to the drift. Nevertheless, members of this family belong to the same universality class in that they all lead to the same emergent Schrödinger behavior at the "macroscopic" or quantum level. The model in which fluctuations are totally suppressed is of particular interest: the system evolves along the smooth lines of probability flow. Thus ED includes the Bohmian or causal form of quantum mechanics as a special limiting case. We briefly explore a different universality class - a nondissipative dynamics with microscopic fluctuations but no quantum potential. The Bohmian limit of these hybrid models is equivalent to classical mechanics. Finally we show that the Heisenberg uncertainty relation is unaffected either by enhancing or suppressing microscopic fluctuations or by switching off the quantum potential.