Paper IV — Local Interactions and Potentials from Operational Locality

Paul Cooney

Published Dec 14, 2025• 0 citations

Abstract

Paper IV — Local Interactions and Potentials from Operational Locality DescriptionThis paper shows how local interaction terms and effective potentials arise from operational locality constraints. By analyzing admissible deformations of free ordered dynamics, we derive interaction structure without invoking classical force laws or background geometry. The results clarify why local potentials dominate physical dynamics and how interaction terms reflect operationally constrained information exchange. Keywordslocal interactions; emergent potentials; operational physics; quantum dynamics; reconstruction theory; locality

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17925674

Related papers

Paper V — Angular Information Locality and Spin

Paul Cooney

Dec 14, 20250 citations

Paper VI — Entanglement Information Locality and Many-Body Structure

Paul Cooney

Paper VI — Entanglement Information Locality and Many-Body Structure DescriptionThis work extends ordered-dynamics locality principles to composite systems, deriving entanglement structure and many-body correlations from operational constraints. Entanglement emerges as a necessary feature of jointly constrained information propagation, not as an added axiom. The paper clarifies the operational meaning of non-separability and establishes the foundations for multi-particle quantum structure within the ODRP. Keywordsentanglement; many-body systems; quantum correlations; operational locality; information theory; quantum foundations

Dec 14, 20250 citations

Paper XII - Emergent Spatial Locality from Bounded Influence

Paul Cooney

This paper derives spatial locality as an emergent operational concept arising from bounded influence propagation. Without assuming spacetime geometry or metric structure, distance and neighborhood relations emerge from constraints on distinguishability and causal accessibility. The result provides an information-theoretic origin for spatial structure within ordered dynamics. Keywordsemergent space; locality; bounded influence; operational physics; information constraints

Dec 21, 20250 citations

Paper I — Ordered Dynamics and Operational State Spaces

Paul Cooney

Paper I — Ordered Dynamics and Operational State Spaces DescriptionThis paper inaugurates the Ordered-Dynamics Reconstruction Program (ODRP) by introducing the foundational concept of ordered dynamics as a pre-geometric, pre-spatiotemporal substrate for physical theory. Without assuming spacetime, Hilbert space, or quantum postulates, we construct operational state spaces from minimal ordering and distinguishability requirements. The paper establishes the core axioms governing records, operational comparison, and bounded influence, providing the primitive framework from which locality, dynamics, and physical observables will later emerge in the series. Keywordsordered dynamics; operational state spaces; foundations of physics; pre-spacetime physics; information theory; reconstruction programs

Dec 14, 20250 citations

Quantum Coherence Theory (QCT): A Constraint-Based Framework for Classical Emergence

Matthew Ainsworth

(This version has been superceeded, see v.3) Contemporary approaches to physical unification typically emphasize dynamical laws, interpretive frameworks, or information-theoretic reconstructions. Less attention is given to the structural constraints that determine which physical descriptions can remain coherent and stable under interaction, scale transition, and aggregation. This paper develops a constraint-first analysis of coherence, arguing that persistence and unification require restrictions on admissible physical continuations that are not reducible to dynamics alone. Within the framework referred to here as Quantum Coherence Theory (QCT), coherence is treated not as a fragile quantum resource but as a structural property governed by interaction geometry and constraint density. On this view, classical behavior emerges when accumulated constraints sufficiently narrow admissible evolution, while quantum behavior re-emerges when constraints are relaxed. The account does not introduce new dynamics, collapse mechanisms, or modifications of quantum formalism, but instead clarifies the conditions under which existing formalisms yield stable, unified descriptions. The resulting constraints distinguish QCT from observer-centric, intrinsic-collapse, and purely descriptive decoherence accounts, while remaining compatible with globally unitary dynamics. Formal analysis in later sections develops operational redundancy conditions, admissibility constraints on joint states, and rigidity-style arguments linking redundant record structure to the stability of classical descriptions. These results do not constitute a complete theory of unification, but they narrow the space of physically admissible descriptions and clarify the structural role of coherence in bridging quantum and classical regimes.

Feb 8, 20260 citations

Interaction–Locality Corridor: Composite Generator Structure, Coupling Slots, and Constraint-Preserving Dynamics

Kenneth Searcy

Locality is a bookkeeping constraint: dynamics must avoid global ledger access. This paper continues the forced “corridor” sequence and derives an interaction–locality corridor for composite open-system dynamics. Building on tensor-class composition, entanglement, CPTP update laws, and the Lindblad-class generator slot, it shows: (i) in the non-interacting case, composite generators are pressured to be additive on subsystems (no hidden coupling); (ii) interaction enters only through a minimal coupling-residual slot beyond local parts; (iii) “locality” is forced as bounded ledger access, yielding k-local / bounded-degree generator structure on an interaction graph (a constraint graph, not a spacetime embedding); (iv) marginal consistency and corridor no-signaling constrain admissible local operations and interaction terms; and (v) coarse-graining stability requires coupling descriptions to be invariant under regrouping of outcomes and subsystem refinements. The result is a refinement-stable structural slot for interaction and locality without importing metric or relativistic axioms; specific physical Hamiltonians and spacetime locality are deferred.

Feb 18, 20260 citations