Black holes are conventionally described as gravitational objects defined by spacetime geometry and event horizons. This geometric picture, while successful, leaves open fundamental questions concerning irreversibility, information isolation, and the universality of horizon-like behavior across physical systems. In this work, we propose and experimentally test an alternative framework: that horizon-like structures emerge as a consequence of realization dynamics, independent of gravity or spacetime curvature. By realization we mean the physical persistence of quantum structure under ongoing dynamics, as distinct from its mere mathematical existence in Hilbert space. Quantum structure that cannot be dynamically realized must be structurally excluded from the realizable domain. We implement a realization-based dynamical protocol on real superconducting quantum hardware provided by IBM Quantum, using sampler-native circuits without mid-circuit measurements or post-selection. A small quantum “world” subsystem is coupled to a non-realizable sink via a controllable realization barrier. Population of the sink qubit serves as an empirical signature of horizon-like absorption. Three regimes are experimentally compared: a fully realizable regime, a control regime with strong dynamics but no realization barrier, and a horizon regime in which unstable quantum structure is coherently redirected into the sink. Strong absorption is observed exclusively in the presence of the realization barrier, while the realizable and control regimes remain statistically indistinguishable. Control tests rule out noise, circuit depth, or strong driving as alternative explanations. These results constitute hardware-executed evidence that black-hole-like horizons can emerge purely from realization dynamics. We conclude that black holes may be understood as structural residues of completed realization rather than objects requiring gravitational collapse, opening a new experimental route to horizon physics grounded in quantum realization rather than geometry.
Black holes are conventionally described as gravitational objects defined by spacetime geometry and event horizons. This geometric picture, while successful, leaves open fundamental questions concerning irreversibility, information isolation, and the universality of horizon-like behavior across physical systems. In this work, we propose and experimentally test an alternative framework: that horizon-like structures emerge as a consequence of realization dynamics, independent of gravity or spacetime curvature. By realization we mean the physical persistence of quantum structure under ongoing dynamics, as distinct from its mere mathematical existence in Hilbert space. Quantum structure that cannot be dynamically realized must be structurally excluded from the realizable domain. We implement a realization-based dynamical protocol on real superconducting quantum hardware provided by IBM Quantum, using sampler-native circuits without mid-circuit measurements or post-selection. A small quantum “world” subsystem is coupled to a non-realizable sink via a controllable realization barrier. Population of the sink qubit serves as an empirical signature of horizon-like absorption. Three regimes are experimentally compared: a fully realizable regime, a control regime with strong dynamics but no realization barrier, and a horizon regime in which unstable quantum structure is coherently redirected into the sink. Strong absorption is observed exclusively in the presence of the realization barrier, while the realizable and control regimes remain statistically indistinguishable. Control tests rule out noise, circuit depth, or strong driving as alternative explanations. These results constitute hardware-executed evidence that black-hole-like horizons can emerge purely from realization dynamics. We conclude that black holes may be understood as structural residues of completed realization rather than objects requiring gravitational collapse, opening a new experimental route to horizon physics grounded in quantum realization rather than geometry.
Modern physics provides empirically complete and highly successful descriptions of local dynamics. General relativity specifies the causal evolution of spacetime geometry, and quantum mechanics specifies the unitary evolution of states. Despite this success, both frameworks leave implicit a foundational question: when a dynamically admissible configuration can be regarded as physically realized as part of a coherent world. This work introduces a minimal, non-dynamical realization criterion that formally closes this gap. Physical realization is defined as a global, temporally organized admissibility condition constrained by relativistic causality. The criterion does not modify any local equations of motion, introduce new forces, fields, particles, or degrees of freedom, nor alter the mathematical structure of existing theories. Instead, it identifies realization as an organizational condition required for dynamical solutions to become physically instantiated. A minimal causal bound T = L / c is shown to follow directly from relativistic causal structure, implying a finite organizational time for global coherence across a spatial extent L. The associated inverse scale Ω = c / L is clarified as a structural constant rather than a dynamical frequency: it has no oscillatory interpretation, carries no energy, and does not represent a physical process. Its role is purely limiting—it marks the minimal global temporal orientation required for realization to persist. Within this framework, classical gravitational optics, delayed global geometric organization, and quantum outcome realization arise as direct consequences of the same realization criterion. The contribution of this work is exclusively structural: it makes explicit a condition already implicit in successful physical theories and provides a formal closure without extending or revising their dynamics. This paper concludes a broader research program on temporal realization, gravitational organization, and global coherence by isolating realization as a necessary condition for physics to describe a world at all.
Abstract We investigate measurement-induced effects on trans-horizon correlations in dynamic quantum circuits executed on IBM's 156-qubit superconducting processor (ibm_fez, Heron r2 architecture). We engineer a 40-qubit spin chain with a spatially-varying XX + YY coupling profile that creates an analog horizon at position x h = 20, where coupling strength reaches a minimum. We define a correlation contrast metric C = ⟨σ x iσ x j⟩ horizon − ⟨σ x σ x ⟩ exterior and compare three conditions: (i) unitary Trotter evolution (baseline), (ii) mid-circuit measurement with reset on qubits near the horizon, and (iii) control measurement on distant qubits. Each circuit was executed with 16,384 shots. The near-horizon measurement produces a (56.5 ± 1.9)% reduction in correlation contrast (95% CI from n = 5000 bootstrap resamples), while the control preserves (87.8 ± 2.1)% of baseline. Two ablation experiments constrain interpretation: removing the reset operation yields only a (2.6 ± 1.2) percentage point change, indicating that projective measurement—not state reset—drives the effect. Crucially, moving the measured subset 4 links away from the horizon collapses the reduction to (6.5 ± 2.3)%, yielding an 8.2 ± 1.4 ratio that demonstrates strong spatial localization. We additionally performed a flat-spacetime control with uniform coupling J(x) = J max on ibm_torino (Heron r1, 133 qubits), obtaining a baseline contrast that collapses to a small residual near zero (C = − 0.015, 95% CI [− 0.029, − 0.002]), confirming that the spatial structure arises from the engineered coupling profile rather than generic measurement artifacts. These results establish that mid-circuit measurement near an engineered coupling minimum preferentially disrupts correlations across that boundary, a signature qualitatively consistent with information-theoretic models of horizon physics.
This work reports experimental evidence that physical outcomes in quantum hardware depend on the interaction structure realized during execution rather than solely on the intended logical circuit description. Using four-qubit experiments on superconducting quantum processors, we demonstrate that nominally equivalent circuits may be compiled into distinct physical interaction graphs, leading to markedly different correlation patterns in measurement outcomes. The results support a structure-dependent realization perspective, in which global system constraints select admissible physical outcomes from a space of formally defined possibilities. The findings provide empirical grounding for realization-based theoretical frameworks and complement independent evidence obtained from temporal-coherence studies and gravitational systems. This work is not intended as a performance or optimization study, but as an experimental investigation of structural selection in physical systems.
This work presents empirical evidence that quantum measurement is not an instantaneous, structureless collapse, but a multi-stage recursive realization process governed by coherence, weak predictability, and global structural constraints. Using real superconducting quantum processors (IBM Quantum), a sequence of controlled experiments probes four distinct stages of realization:(I) pre-realizational structural orientation,(II) weak predictive bias accessed through ancilla measurements,(III) recursive stabilization via repeated weak probing, and(IV) topology-dependent anti-locking that suppresses locally stable but globally inconsistent configurations. The experiments demonstrate that weakly coupled ancilla qubits acquire statistically significant information about final outcomes prior to projective measurement, that this information disappears under controlled decoupling and phase scrambling, and that repeated probing progressively stabilizes outcome tendencies. Crucially, closed-ring circuit topologies exhibit significantly stronger suppression of locally “locking” configurations than open-line controls, despite identical gate parameters, depth, and hardware backend. This topology-dependent anti-locking effect cannot be explained by local noise, readout bias, or marginal statistics, and instead indicates the presence of a global coherence constraint acting during realization. The results support a physical interpretation in which quantum states represent pre-realizational structure, analogous to an architectural plan, while measurement corresponds to the completion of a recursive, globally constrained selection process rather than an abrupt collapse. Beyond foundational implications, the work demonstrates that contemporary quantum hardware can function as an experimental platform for probing the internal structure of quantum theory itself, opening new avenues for empirical studies of realization, consistency, and emergence.
We investigate measurement-induced effects on trans-horizon correlations in dynamic quantum circuits executed on IBM's 156-qubit superconducting processor (ibm_fez, Heron r2 architecture). We engineer a 40-qubit spin chain with a spatially-varying XX + YY coupling profile that creates an analog horizon at position xh = 20, where coupling strength reaches a minimum. We define a correlation contrast metric C = ⟨σxiσxj⟩horizon − ⟨σxσx⟩exterior and compare three conditions: (i) unitary Trotter evolution (baseline), (ii) mid-circuit measurement with reset on qubits near the horizon, and (iii) control measurement on distant qubits. Each circuit was executed with 16,384 shots. The near-horizon measurement produces a (56.5 ± 1.9)% reduction in correlation contrast (95% CI from n = 5000 bootstrap resamples), while the control preserves (87.8 ± 2.1)% of baseline. Two ablation experiments constrain interpretation: removing the reset operation yields only a (2.6 ± 1.2) percentage point change, indicating that projective measurement—not state reset—drives the effect. Crucially, moving the measured subset 4 links away from the horizon collapses the reduction to (6.5 ± 2.3)%, yielding an 8.2 ± 1.4 ratio that demonstrates strong spatial localization. We additionally performed a flat-spacetime control with uniform coupling J(x) = Jmax on ibm_torino (Heron r1, 133 qubits), obtaining a baseline contrast that collapses to a small residual near zero (C = − 0.015, 95% CI [− 0.029, − 0.002]), confirming that the spatial structure arises from the engineered coupling profile rather than generic measurement artifacts. These results establish that mid-circuit measurement near an engineered coupling minimum preferentially disrupts correlations across that boundary, a signature qualitatively consistent with information-theoretic models of horizon physics.
Abstract We propose physical distinguishability as the fundamental primitive underlying quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics. A state is defined operationally: two states are physically distinct if a physical interaction or measurement can reveal a difference between them. From this principle, a geometric structure emerges on the space of physical states, generating a universal accessibility measure and a geometric notion of time. A single threshold condition appears across all three domains, corresponding to the quantum speed limit, event horizons in gravity, and critical phenomena in thermodynamics. Within this framework, the standard Schrödinger equation is recovered in the quantum sector, while Einstein gravity emerges in the thermodynamic horizon sector. The framework also provides a geometric origin for the Lorentzian structure of spacetime and identifies the roles of Planck’s constant, the speed of light, and Boltzmann’s constant as conversion factors linking different physical realizations of distinguishability dynamics. The theory predicts a characteristic vacuum distinguishability scale of approximately 103 μm and an associated energy scale of approximately 7.6 meV. These quantities connect quantum-vacuum physics, neutrino-scale phenomena, and cosmological scales within a single geometric description. The framework is tested experimentally on IBM Quantum superconducting processors. Across one-qubit, two-qubit, 127-qubit, and 156-qubit experiments performed on three independent Heron-generation backends, excitation probabilities collapse onto universal curves when parameterized by endpoint distinguishability. Protocols with identical control parameters but different endpoint distinguishabilities produce outcomes differing by up to a factor of 3.8, while protocols with identical endpoint distinguishabilities yield consistent results across independent processors. Cross-backend transfer errors remain below 1%. In addition to quantum-computing experiments, the framework suggests new tests in precision metrology, including atomic-force and scanning-tunneling microscopy, where large probe displacements may provide an independent route for testing vacuum distinguishability effects. Taken together, the theoretical construction, vacuum-sector predictions, and quantum-hardware experiments support distinguishability geometry as a unified and experimentally testable framework for physical dynamics.