We present a minimal structural framework in which relativistic causality and quantum probability emerge as effective descriptions, without postulating spacetime geometry, dynamical equations, or quantum states as primitives. The framework is based on resolution-dependent representations and an accounting invariant that tracks irreducible loss under coarse-graining. Crucially, we do not propose an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics, but identify minimal structural constraints under which any admissible physical theory must reduce to probabilistic descriptions. We show that locality and closure of admissible updates force causal cone structures and probabilistic state updates. Classical spacetime dynamics, such as General Relativity, can be understood within this framework as selected realizations that satisfy the same admissibility constraints under appropriate resolution regimes. Rather than competing with existing physical models, this theory constrains which models are physically admissible.
We present a minimal structural framework in which relativistic causality and quantum probability emerge as effective descriptions, without postulating spacetime geometry, dynamical equations, or quantum states as primitives. The framework is based on resolution-dependent representations and an accounting invariant that tracks irreducible loss under coarse-graining. Crucially, we do not propose an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics, but identify minimal structural constraints under which any admissible physical theory must reduce to probabilistic descriptions. We show that locality and closure of admissible updates force causal cone structures and probabilistic state updates. Classical spacetime dynamics, such as General Relativity, can be understood within this framework as selected realizations that satisfy the same admissibility constraints under appropriate resolution regimes. Rather than competing with existing physical models, this theory constrains which models are physically admissible.
We treat physical law not primarily as a description of motion, but as a consistency requirement for bookkeeping under irreducible information loss. We isolate two minimal constraints—Accounting Invariance and Update Closure—and explain how they constrain admissible descriptions and thereby require certain core structural features often associated with relativistic and quantum descriptions. When residual freedom remains, an auxiliary minimality principle in reconstruction cost selects familiar realizations (e.g. Hilbert-type norms and relativistic geometric dynamics) as those that are not eliminated by the admissibility filter. This note is auxiliary: it does not aim to replace established theories, nor to introduce new mathematical results, but to fix interpretational scope and minimal admissibility requirements for the structural framework in [1].
Foundational problems in physics—including quantum measurement, spacetime emergence, gravitational dynamics, nonlocality, the arrow of time, and the status of physical existence—are typically addressed in isolation, via model-dependent extensions or interpretive assumptions. This work proposes a different approach. We introduce a constraint-based framework, the Closure Admissibility Principle (CAP), which specifies minimal structural conditions any physical description must satisfy in order to be globally consistent. CAP is formulated in operational terms, using admissibility of states, recoverability under refinement, and stability of closed records, without assuming spacetime, dynamics, or ontology a priori. We show that enforcing these constraints induces a unifying closure structure on law-space, from which several persistent foundational puzzles are resolved as structural consequences rather than postulates. In particular, collapse is reclassified as record selection, spacetime and gravity emerge only in compressible regimes, General Relativity appears as an infrared universality class rather than a fundamental law, singularities correspond to failures of admissible description, and null (“nothing”) models are excluded as inadmissible fixed points. The framework is explicitly falsifiable via operational and weak-field tests, and its scope and limits are stated precisely. The results suggest that many foundational paradoxes arise not from incomplete dynamics, but from admitting globally incoherent physical descriptions.
We introduce physical phase invariance as a minimal, observer-independent principle capable of unifying quantum theory and relativity. By identifying the physical phase with the classical action measured in units of Planck’s constant, the framework assigns phase a direct operational meaning. Spacetime structure, Lorentz invariance, and quantum probabilistic behavior emerge as effective descriptions of underlying phase dynamics rather than fundamental postulates. Time is defined relationally through phase evolution, and classical motion arises from stationary phase conditions. A simple dynamical equation for the phase field is proposed, while quantum probabilities are shown to result from statistical coarse-graining over unresolved phase degrees of freedom. This approach provides a coherent conceptual foundation linking quantum mechanics, special relativity, and gravitation.
This paper introduces the Relativity of Information Frames (RIF), a foundational framework that precedes and constrains dynamical theories. RIF treats information frames—σ-algebras of distinguishable events—as the fundamental objects of physical description, and formulates interaction as the joint realization of such frames subject to a symmetry principle: no information frame may be privileged over another. From this principle alone, the framework derives a canonical restriction on joint event structures. We prove the existence of a distinguished σ-algebra—the pointer algebra—which is the unique maximal event algebra compatible with perspectival symmetry and the existence of consistent probability assignments. Any empirical model admits a global probability measure on this algebra, while any strict extension generically fails to do so, reintroducing contextuality. These results impose non-trivial structural constraints that any admissible dynamics must respect. The framework is applied to quantum theory, not by postulating dynamics, but by showing how its core structures arise necessarily from informational consistency. Observables appear as perspectival maps, state update corresponds to interaction-induced coarse-graining, the Born rule follows from a martingale structure on the induced σ-algebra filtrations, Wigner-type scenarios are consistent, and unitary evolution is reinterpreted as gauge freedom in joint descriptions rather than ontic time evolution. RIF does not replace dynamical theories; it delimits them. It identifies which event structures, probability assignments, and symmetries are admissible prior to dynamics, and therefore clarifies what features of quantum theory are structural necessities rather than contingent dynamical postulates. The framework further implies intrinsic irreversibility, a relational notion of locality, and constraints on emergent geometric structure, which any subsequent dynamical formulation must accommodate.
This paper establishes the structural inevitability of quantum-theoretical description within the framework of Causal Update Cosmology (CUC I–IX). Rather than deriving quantum-mechanical equations or advocating a specific interpretation of quantum theory, the present work adopts an exclusion-based structural approach. Starting from the completed formulation of CUC and the concept of the central regime, it demonstrates that classical deterministic description is structurally impossible in causal update systems that have not yet reached or cannot maintain the central regime. Below the central regime, causal path competition remains immature, history indistinguishability is unsaturated, and self-averaging does not operate. Under these conditions, states cannot be uniquely defined, deterministic temporal evolution cannot be constructed, and observation cannot be treated as a passive readout. These failures are not due to epistemic limitations or insufficient information, but follow directly from the causal update structure itself. The paper shows that while probabilistic description becomes unavoidable once determinism is excluded, classical probability theory is insufficient, because probability in such systems is intrinsically coupled to the update process and competing causal histories are structurally non-independent. As a result, quantum-theoretical description emerges as the minimal and only consistent remaining framework. Observation is reinterpreted as an irreversible causal update rather than a measurement of a pre-existing state. This provides a structural resolution of the measurement problem and explains why quantum systems consistently appear on the initial side of the central regime upon observation: not because they are fundamentally incapable of reaching the central regime, but because observational updates disrupt the conditions required to maintain it in systems with limited causal redundancy. Classical description, determinism, and decoherence are shown to arise only as derived and conditional features once the central regime is reached and stably maintained. In this sense, classical theory is not fundamental but emergent. The conclusions of this paper are structurally symmetric to those obtained in the analysis of relativistic inevitability within CUC. Just as relativistic spacetime structure is unavoidable in central-regime–admitting systems, quantum theory is unavoidable below the central regime. Both are thus positioned as necessary descriptive frameworks selected by causal structure, rather than as exceptional postulates. This work represents a key step in extending Causal Update Cosmology beyond relativistic structure to the foundations of quantum theory, and sets the stage for a unified structural treatment of gravity and spacetime curvature in future studies. Note on AI Use This work also explores the broader question of whether new physical theories can emerge through collaboration with AI systems. ChatGPT (OpenAI) was used extensively in the generation and structuring of theoretical ideas and manuscript text, beyond simple editing or polishing. All numerical experiments and scientific validation were performed by the human author.
This preprint presents a foundations-level analysis of physical description based on structural dependency rather than dynamical construction. Quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, and relativistic spacetime are treated as effective regimes arising under different structural conditions, rather than as competing ontologies. The analysis identifies persistence under interaction, irreversible constraint accumulation, stable relational structure, and interaction as minimal requirements for physical behaviour. Collapse is characterised as irreversible loss of compatibility between alternative continuations, without appeal to observers, stochastic dynamics, or additional postulates. Time is treated as structural ordering induced by exclusion, rather than as a primitive background parameter. No new dynamics are proposed and no empirically successful theories are modified. The aim is to clarify explanatory dependencies that underlie familiar physical regimes and to dissolve persistent foundational problems that arise when regime-level descriptions are misidentified as foundations.