Observables, Symmetries and Constraints

K. Heyde, John L. Wood

Wharton, Dakota

Abstract This paper proposes a novel theoretical framework called Constraint Symmetry (CS), which posits that time exhibits a fundamental symmetry analogous to spatial symmetries in physics. Under this framework, the present moment represents a constraint satisfaction condition that must simultaneously satisfy both past and future boundary conditions, neither of which is fully deterministic until crystallized in the present. This bidirectional temporal constraint naturally predicts several experimentally observed quantum phenomena that are considered anomalous under standard unidirectional causality, including indefinite causal order, delayed-choice effects, and violations of temporal Bell-type inequalities (Leggett-Garg). Furthermore, CS makes specific testable predictions about cosmological observables, particularly regarding suppression of cosmic microwave background (CMB) power at low multipole moments (low-ℓ suppression).

changzheng zhou, ZIQING zhou

The measurement problem in quantum mechanics and the embedding of observers in general relativity jointly point to the awkward position of the observer in physical theory: traditional theories place the observer outside the system, but in a self-contained universe, the observer must be internal to the physical world. This paper models the observer as a local subnet inside an emergent spacetime constraint network, whose internal constraint structure forms a compressed generative model of the external network state. The measurement event is reinterpreted as a non-equilibrium phase transition of the internal constraint conffguration when the constraint propagation between the observer subnet and the target subnet reaches a critical threshold, and wavefunction collapse is reduced to a sudden transition of a local subnet from a symmetric multi-basin state to a single-basin broken-symmetry state. Based on a formalisation of the microscopic dynamics of constraint networks, symmetry and conservation laws, and the emergence of an arrow of time, this framework uniffes the historical interpretation of decoherence with active inference in the free energy principle, and argues that a self-referential universe can contain a self-referential subnet, thereby making physical laws cognisable. Physics and cognitive science achieve a deep unity at the ontological level of constraint networks.

Gertjan J. Burghouts, Jan‐Mark Geusebroek, Arnold W. M. Smeulders

Radhakrishnan Jayaraman

Abstract This volume establishes the conceptual and mathematical bridge between the abstract informational constraints that form the ontological substrate of the ICQER (Informational Constraints Quantum Event Realism) framework and the concrete, measurable quantities accessible to empirical physics. While constraints—defined as logical and informational conditions governing event possibilities—constitute the fundamental architecture of reality in ICQER, they remain inherently non-physical in their raw form. This work systematically demonstrates how these abstract constraints give rise to measurable physical observables through symmetry generation, metric emergence, and dynamical propagation. We show that constraints encode symmetries that correspond to conservation laws, yielding invariants such as energy, momentum, and charge. Constraint networks induce relational metric structures that manifest as spacetime geometry, while constraint algebra maps naturally onto Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formalisms, generating equations of motion. The quantum measurement problem is reinterpreted as constraint update and fixation, resolving paradoxes by embedding observation within informational dynamics. Experimental implications are explored, including predictions for nonlocal correlations, emergent collective modes, and room-temperature superconductivity. This volume provides a comprehensive pathway from informational primitives to empirical validation, positioning ICQER as a unifying paradigm that bridges foundational theory with observable physics.