This preprint proposes an intrinsic, observer-independent criterion for the quantum–classical transition based on temporal persistence of spatial coordinates. Classicality is defined by non-null duration of coordinate existence rather than spatial definiteness, reframing the transition as ontological stratification by duration. The framework is compatible with standard quantum mechanics and connects naturally with the path integral formulation.
This preprint proposes an intrinsic, observer-independent criterion for the quantum–classical transition based on temporal persistence of spatial coordinates. Classicality is defined by non-null duration of coordinate existence rather than spatial definiteness, reframing the transition as ontological stratification by duration. The framework is compatible with standard quantum mechanics and connects naturally with the path integral formulation.
This registration documents a completed theoretical study in fundamental physics and statistical mechanics. The work introduces a universal, model-independent stability criterion for the applicability of object-based descriptions in physical theories. Objecthood is treated not as an ontological primitive, but as an operationally defined regime characterized by (i) a separation of characteristic timescales and (ii) the capacity to support persistent internal records under coarse-grained observation. A dimensionless stability parameter is defined as the ratio between the exit time from a coarse-grained state and the intrinsic relaxation time of the system. The central result is the identification of a sharp threshold below which identity-based language (localization, persistence, re-identification) becomes physically uncontrolled, independently of microscopic dynamics. The registration serves to time-stamp and formally fix the theoretical formulation, definitions, assumptions, and conclusions presented in the associated preprint. No data collection, experimental intervention, or hypothesis testing is planned. The results are normative rather than predictive: they do not modify equations of motion but constrain the domain of physical validity of object-based descriptions across classical, quantum, and relativistic regimes. This registration is intended to establish priority and transparency for a foundational theoretical contribution at the interface of statistical mechanics, quantum foundations, and information theory.
The Scalar Temporal Field Ontology (STFO) treats time as a physical scalar field whose spacetime gradients define causal ordering and temporal directionality. While prior work established the classical dynamics and effective field theory structure of STFO, a consistent formulation of quantum mechanics requires that quantum evolution be defined without reference to an external time parameter. In this work quantum mechanics is derived as unitary evolution along the temporal scalar field itself. Using a covariant path integral formulation, Schrödinger evolution is shown to arise as a gauge-fixed description of dynamics along the normalized temporal congruence. Measurement and the emergence of classical behavior follow from controlled temporal decoherence induced by EFT-suppressed matter couplings. The framework preserves standard quantum mechanics in weak-field regimes while predicting small, environment-dependent deviations accessible to precision experiments.Note:Earlier unified formulations of the Scalar Temporal Field Ontology admit an intrinsic ultraviolet regularization through nonlinear temporal feedback that dynamically saturates stress–energy. In the present phenomenological and quantum analyses, we work explicitly in the controlled low-energy effective limit of this theory, where predictions can be extracted and compared to observations without invoking the full ultraviolet dynamics.
This preprint introduces the Persistence Criterion (PC), a conceptual and mathematical framework for distinguishing epistemic obscuration from ontological elimination in physical theories. The central claim is that uncertainty, noise, decoherence, or coarse-graining reduce empirical distinguishability of states or observables without implying that the underlying theoretical structures cease to exist. The framework is developed across classical estimation theory, stochastic dynamical systems, and quantum theory. In the classical domain, noisy observation models and information-theoretic metrics are used to show how distinguishability contracts while state variables persist, consistent with standard treatments in estimation theory and statistical physics (e.g., Fisher information and Bayesian filtering). For dynamical systems, stochastic differential equations and Fokker–Planck dynamics illustrate how deterministic generators remain structurally present despite diffusion-dominated behavior, aligning with established results in open-system dynamics and control theory. In the quantum domain, the Persistence Criterion is formulated using density operators, completely positive trace-preserving (CPTP) maps, and the algebraic (C*-algebraic) formulation of quantum mechanics. Decoherence is treated as an obscuring process acting on states via CPTP channels, while the underlying observable algebra remains invariant. This formulation draws on standard results from quantum information theory and algebraic quantum mechanics, emphasizing that loss of coherence or distinguishability does not entail annihilation of observables or dynamical structure (Holevo, 2011; Nielsen & Chuang, 2010; Breuer & Petruccione, 2002). The Persistence Criterion is interpretation-neutral and consistent with quantum no-go theorems, including Bell, Kochen–Specker, and PBR-type results, as it makes no assumption of value definiteness or hidden variables. Instead, it functions as a criterion of ontological coherence, identifying and excluding a specific interpretational error: the conflation of indistinguishability with non-existence. The work is aligned with non-eliminative structural realism and contemporary discussions of decoherence and ontology in quantum foundations (Ladyman & Ross, 2007; Wallace, 2012; Ruetsche, 2018). No new physical dynamics or empirical predictions are proposed. The contribution is conceptual and formal: clarifying how existing mathematical frameworks already encode persistence under uncertainty, and providing a principled interpretational constraint applicable across classical and quantum theories.
When compared to quantum mechanics, classical mechanics is often depicted in a specific metaphysical flavour: spatio-temporal realism or a Newtonian "background" is presented as an intrinsic fundamental classical presumption. However, the Hamiltonian formulation of classical analytical mechanics is based on abstract generalized coordinates and momenta: It is a mathematical rather than a philosophical framework. If the metaphysical assumptions ascribed to classical mechanics are dropped, then there exists a presentation in which little of the purported difference between quantum and classical mechanics remains. This presentation allows to derive the mathematics of relativistic quantum mechanics on the basis of a purely classical Hamiltonian phase space picture. It is shown that a spatio-temporal description is not a condition for but a consequence of objectivity. It requires no postulates. This is achieved by evading spatial notions and assuming nothing but time translation invariance.
We propose an effective framework to account for the emergence of time, history, and classical reality from quantum dynamics. The approach distinguishes between processes that occur dynamically and those that consolidate as physical past through the formation of stable, redundant, and irreversible records. We introduce the principle of self-reinforced stability of histories, according to which only certain evolutions can persist as effective physical history under semiclassical dynamics. Within this framework, the quantum–classical transition is described as a continuous and dynamically accelerated crossover, rather than a collapse or a sharp threshold. Classical time emerges locally together with history as an effective ordering associated with irreversibility, and the uniqueness of the past arises as a dynamical consequence rather than a postulate. The framework is compatible with standard quantum mechanics and general relativity within their domains of validity, introduces no inflated ontology, and is falsifiable through the structural exclusion of entire classes of non-observable phenomena.