A Relational Ontological Theory of Emergence and a New Nonlinear Quantum Physics

Gregg S. Jaeger

Kent Fujiwara

Physics has often advanced by revealing that concepts once regarded as fundamental are instead emergent manifestations of deeper organizing principles. Forces gave way to fields, gravitation became the geometry of spacetime, and quantum mechanics replaced deterministic particles with probabilistic wavefunctions. The Relational Primitive Hypothesis (RPH) asks whether this progression may continue one step further. Rather than treating particles, fields, spacetime, or geometry as the primitive constituents of physical reality, RPH proposes that evolving relational structures constitute the primitive ontology from which familiar physical quantities emerge. The objective of RPH is not to replace established physics, but to investigate whether a simpler primitive ontology can provide a common foundation from which established physical theories may naturally emerge. Within this framework, matter is interpreted as stable relational organization, mass as persistent relational stability, spacetime as emergent relational geometry, and physical interactions as consequences of evolving relational dynamics. This work does not present a completed physical theory. Instead, it establishes a conceptual framework and a structured research program. It defines a proposed ontology, formulates a minimal set of postulates, identifies the mathematical objectives required to develop a predictive theory, examines the physical consequences expected from the proposed framework, and establishes scientific criteria by which the hypothesis must ultimately be evaluated. The Relational Primitive Hypothesis neither replaces nor contradicts established physical theories. Rather, it investigates whether General Relativity, quantum mechanics, and other successful physical theories may themselves emerge as effective descriptions of a more fundamental relational dynamic. The ultimate success or failure of the hypothesis depends not upon its philosophical appeal, but upon the development of a mathematically consistent framework capable of reproducing established physics while generating new, experimentally testable predictions. Until such a framework is achieved, the Relational Primitive Hypothesis should be regarded as a structured research program whose validity remains an open scientific question.

Through both an historical and philosophical analysis of the concept of possibility, we show how including both potentiality and actuality as part of the real is both compatible with experience and contributes to solving key problems of fundamental process and emergence. The book is organized into four main sections that incorporate our routes to potentiality: (1) potentiality in modern science [history and philosophy; quantum physics and complexity]; (2) Relational Realism [ontological interpretation of quantum physics; philosophy and logic]; (3) Process Physics [ontological interpretation of relativity theory; physics and philosophy]; (4) on speculative philosophy and physics [limitations and approximations; process philosophy]. We conclude that certain fundamental problems in modern physics require complementary analyses of certain philosophical and metaphysical issues, and that such scholarship reveals intrinsic features and limits of determinism, potentiality and emergence that enable, among others, important progress on the quantum theory of measurement problem and new understandings of emergence.

Rodolfo Gambini, Lucía Lewowicz, Jorge A. Pullin

Olímpia Lombardi

J. R. Croca

Fourier ontology and consequent quantum indeterminism and the way to overcome it shall be discussed. Furthermore it shall be proven that recent experimental technology goes far beyond the limits imposed by Heisenberg indetermination relations. These experiments are perfectly integrated in the new causal nonlinear quantum physics. Keywords: Orthodox quantum mechanics, Fourier ontology, Heisenberg indetermination relations, nonlinear quantum physics, general uncertainty relations, beyond Heisenberg limits.