Modern physics has achieved extraordinary empirical success while retaining much of the absolute, unobservable structure introduced by Newton, largely without questioning its necessity. We investigate how far this structure can be eliminated by adopting a relational ontology guided by Leibniz's principle of sufficient reason. Removing absolute position, orientation, time and, finally, scale leads naturally to a formulation of the gravitational $N$-body problem where only dimensionless ratios are physically meaningful. Within this framework, the scale-invariant variety $V$ becomes a central quantity, providing a measure of structure, a natural ordering of shapes, and an emergent gravitational arrow of time. We argue that the resulting formulation unifies classes of Newtonian solutions previously regarded as distinct, uncovering a possible new symmetry, suggests a notion of explanation based on timeless spatial correlations rather than temporal evolution, and points towards a more economical ontology. Although developed in the context of Newtonian gravity, the principles proposed here may also offer a new perspective on general relativity and quantum mechanics.
Modern physics has achieved extraordinary empirical success while retaining much of the absolute, unobservable structure introduced by Newton, largely without questioning its necessity. We investigate how far this structure can be eliminated by adopting a relational ontology guided by Leibniz's principle of sufficient reason. Removing absolute position, orientation, time and, finally, scale leads naturally to a formulation of the gravitational N-body problem where only dimensionless ratios are physically meaningful. Within this framework, the scale-invariant variety V becomes a central quantity, providing a measure of structure, a natural ordering of shapes, and an emergent gravitational arrow of time. We argue that the resulting formulation unifies classes of Newtonian solutions previously regarded as distinct, uncovering a possible new symmetry, suggests a notion of explanation based on timeless spatial correlations rather than temporal evolution, and points towards a more economical ontology. Although developed in the context of Newtonian gravity, the principles proposed here may also offer a new perspective on general relativity and quantum mechanics.
We propose that the unobservability of absolute scale constitutes a foundational principle of physics. Starting from the requirement that physical predictions must be invariant under rescalings of the action, we show that only phase-based quantities remain well defined. This requirement uniquely selects a complex amplitude description, leading directly to the structure of quantum mechanics, including linear superposition, Hilbert space, and the Born rule. Within this framework, the classical notion of action loses absolute meaning, and physical observables arise from invariant phase relations. Quantum mechanics is therefore not postulated, but emerges as the minimal consistent description of systems in which scale cannot be directly observed. The formal structure of quantum theory is shown to follow from this principle without additional axioms. We further demonstrate that the same principle implies the existence of a dynamical scale field, which governs the effective quantum scale and connects naturally to cosmological models with a time- dependent Planck mass. In this way, the structure of quantum mechanics and the large-scale dynamics of the Universe are linked through a common origin. This framework provides a unified perspective in which quantum behavior and cosmological evolution arise from a single underlying principle, suggesting a new approach to the relationship between fundamental physics and cosmology.
We systematically analyze the conceptual structure of modern physics, i.e., the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, from the perspective of Leibniz’s three basic principles of identity, sufficient reason and continuity. We find that Leibniz’s way of thinking can still provide insight into fundamental problems of physics, such as the nature of physical constants, the relation between physical invariances and covariant coordinate representations, the role of the Planck scale and quantum mechanical indeterminism and the measurement problem. Leibniz himself could not possess all those insights, simply because physics was not yet sufficiently developed then, but he had already forged some conceptual tools with which some fundamental problems of modern physics can be addressed.
The incompatibility between quantum mechanics and relativity is not a lack of technical details, but a fundamental one—they are each built on distinct local invariants: quantum mechanics relies on gauge invariance, while relativity is based on Lorentz invariance. Starting from different mountain feet, they naturally cannot converge at the summit. What physicists are truly seeking is a global, absolute, and simple invariant—one that can govern all physical phenomena and serve as the common source of all physical laws. This paper proposes the Axiom of Cosmic Uniqueness: all events, physical states, particle configurations, and interaction relationships in the universe are strictly unique, and there are no two identical forms of existence. From the perspective of group theory, this axiom is the ultimate invariant that physicists have long pursued—because the attribute of "everything is unique" remains unchanged regardless of any transformation applied (temporal evolution, spatial translation, rotation, gauge transformation, etc.). Based on this single axiom, this paper argues that: · The essence of time is the sequential unfolding of unique states, and the unidirectionality of the arrow of time is a direct inference of uniqueness; · The essence of space is the topological structure of causal correlations between unique events; · Causality possesses absolute necessity, and the "randomness" in quantum mechanics is a cognitive limitation rather than physical reality; · Probability has no physical reality and is purely an instrumental approximation under cognitive limitations—because the definition of probability relies on "repeatable experiments", a premise negated by the Axiom of Cosmic Uniqueness; · The paradox of the origin of life is thus resolved: the origin of life has already occurred, and no probabilistic explanation is needed under the Axiom of Cosmic Uniqueness—the so-called "extremely low probability" is a pseudo-problem arising from the misapplication of the concept of probability to unique historical events. This axiom requires no presupposition of any physical laws, particle properties, or spacetime frameworks, and achieves self-consistency solely through ontological logic. It is a more fundamental global invariant than Lorentz invariance and gauge invariance, and can govern the core laws of classical physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, and cosmic evolution—for all of them are branches growing from this common source.
The incompatibility between quantum mechanics and relativity is not a lack of technical details, but a fundamental one—they are each built on distinct local invariants: quantum mechanics relies on gauge invariance, while relativity is based on Lorentz invariance. Starting from different mountain feet, they naturally cannot converge at the summit. What physicists are truly seeking is a global, absolute, and simple invariant—one that can govern all physical phenomena and serve as the common source of all physical laws.This paper proposes the Axiom of Cosmic Uniqueness: all events, physical states, particle configurations, and interaction relationships in the universe are strictly unique, and there are no two identical forms of existence. From the perspective of group theory, this axiom is the ultimate invariant that physicists have long pursued—because the attribute of "everything is unique" remains unchanged regardless of any transformation applied (temporal evolution, spatial translation, rotation, gauge transformation, etc.).Based on this single axiom, this paper argues that:· The essence of time is the sequential unfolding of unique states, and the unidirectionality of the arrow of time is a direct inference of uniqueness;· The essence of space is the topological structure of causal correlations between unique events;· Causality possesses absolute necessity, and the "randomness" in quantum mechanics is a cognitive limitation rather than physical reality;· Probability has no physical reality and is purely an instrumental approximation under cognitive limitations—because the definition of probability relies on "repeatable experiments", a premise negated by the Axiom of Cosmic Uniqueness;· The paradox of the origin of life is thus resolved: the origin of life has already occurred, and no probabilistic explanation is needed under the Axiom of Cosmic Uniqueness—the so-called "extremely low probability" is a pseudo-problem arising from the misapplication of the concept of probability to unique historical events.This axiom requires no presupposition of any physical laws, particle properties, or spacetime frameworks, and achieves self-consistency solely through ontological logic. It is a more fundamental global invariant than Lorentz invariance and gauge invariance, and can govern the core laws of classical physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, and cosmic evolution—for all of them are branches growing from this common source.
Abstract This paper proposes that time is not a fundamental dimension of reality but an emergent property generated through a specific causal chain originating in a quantum gravitational mechanism not yet fully characterized by existing physics. There is no universal t = 0 in an absolute sense. There is only a threshold at which the quantum gravitational mechanism begins to generate motion, and time becomes applicable within a localized system only after that threshold is crossed. The central chain of inference is as follows: the quantum gravitational mechanism generates motion; motion generates new distinguishable information states; time is the ordered accumulation of those information states; and because information cannot be destroyed in the ontological sense proposed by this framework, the temporal sequence is irreversible by structural necessity rather than by thermodynamic probability. This four-step chain is not merely a restatement of existing physics in new language. It provides a mechanistic basis for the arrow of time, a physical account of wave function collapse, a structural explanation for the ontological threshold at quantum measurement, a reframing of the QM/GR incompatibility, a structural consequence for time travel impossibility within the framework’s own ontology, a predicted structural basis for the Hubble tension, an ontological resolution of quantum information scrambling — identifying apparent scrambling not as a property of the information itself but as an artifact of the outside-in observational position encountering the statistical surface of an internally ordered generative record that remains perfectly traceable from the inside-out perspective — and a precise reframing of the photon proper time paradox, identifying the τ = 0 result not as experiential simultaneity but as the expected mathematical signature of a massless particle operating at the c boundary condition of the emergent temporal domain where derived temporal measures are structurally inapplicable — each as a consequence of the same single ontological principle rather than as separately introduced claims. The fact that a single ontological principle generates resolutions to problems that physics has treated as unrelated for decades is not coincidental. It is the kind of convergent explanatory structure that has historically accompanied correct foundational claims — and the experimental program described here is designed to determine whether this framework earns that status. The ontology advanced here is referred to as Generative Inscription: the view that ordered time is the downstream accumulation of irreversibly inscribed state distinctions generated by motion from an upstream quantum-gravitational source. This framework advances toward operational unity by introducing a time-generation scalar field χ encoding the local density of irreversible information state generation per unit of action, a coupling constant κmotion defining the relationship between kinetic energy flux and information state generation rate, a phase transition model for the ontological threshold, a formal discriminator (ℛtot) bounding apparent thermodynamic time reversal against an absolute ontological record burden, candidate scaling laws for experimental signatures in fusion plasma diagnostics, a modified Friedmann equation incorporating geometric temporal asymmetry, and a defined set of minimal admissibility conditions formalizing the quantum gravitational mechanism as a constrained generator class rather than an unspecified placeholder. The primary coordinate is shifted from standard time t to Action S, with t emerging as a derived parameter, so that the mathematical structure reflects the ontological hierarchy this proposed framework claims. The framework employs an action-parameterized tangent vector rather than the standard four-velocity, separates coupling constants by operational scale, and adopts the Maupertuis formulation of action as the primary coordinate from which time derives. The framework is explicitly differentiated from related prior work by Wiltshire, Barbour, Vaccaro, and Brukner. Two cosmological predictions follow structurally from the core ontology: χ field convergence nodes at cosmic web filament intersections produce qualitatively distinct temporal environments, and gravitational wave events constitute propagating χ field disturbances with testable quantum measurement correlatives. Recent experimental observation of superluminal optical vortex motion provides an empirical glimpse of the distinction this framework draws between the generating mechanism’s operational level and the emergent temporal domain c governs. The experimental program described in Section 6 is not separate from the theory. It is the proposed inside-out crucible by which the framework would be falsified or strengthened through sustained nuclear fusion plasma diagnostics operating at stellar-interior conditions as should become available as fusion reactor technologies reach operational status within the next 10 to 20 years. Correspondence: seedire@gmail.com
This paper develops an extension of Existential Realism, a philosophical framework that distinguishes existence (what concretely is in the present moment) from reality (the broader causal–structural domain that includes past events, causal relations, informational traces, and structured future possibilities that are real but not presently existent). We synthesize core ideas from the original Existential Realism framework—ontological emergence, entanglement, temporal asymmetry, dimensional collapse, and the notion of a “dimensionless source”—and push them into new conceptual terrain. Time is placed at the heart of ontology: the present moment is the locus of existence, continually generating new actuality from prior reality. Past and future are real (with causal efficacy and structure) yet lack present existence. We explore how this two-tiered temporal ontology can accommodate key features of modern physics and metaphysics. In particular, we argue that ontological emergence at each moment provides a genuine arrow of time and a solution to the puzzle of how determinate events arise from an indeterminate backdrop. Quantum entanglement and nonlocal correlations, far from undermining a temporally oriented realism, instead hint at a deeper layer of unity “beneath” spacetime—a layer we articulate as a dimensionless source of reality. The dimensionless source is defined as a non-spatiotemporal relational structure encoding the informational constraints under which spatiotemporal events emerge through sequential actualization. It contains the informational constraints and lawful relations governing the generation of successive present states of the universe. We propose that spacetime and its separations emerge from this atemporal, aspatial ground, such that phenomena like entanglement and wavefunction collapse reveal the traces of a more fundamental order where spatial distance and temporal succession are secondary. Throughout, we connect these ideas to contemporary debates in quantum foundations (e.g. the measurement problem and objective collapse theories), philosophy of time (presentism, eternalism, and the reality of becoming), and speculative metaphysics (structural realism and process ontology). The result is a comprehensive, present-centered realist ontology that aims to reconcile the lived reality of time’s flow with the insights of modern physics, suggesting new avenues for understanding causality, identity, and agency in a dynamic universe.