We propose a unified operational framework for the emergence of irreversibility in physical systems. Building on the Relativistic Halting perspective, we introduce the dimensionless Relativistic Information Ratio, Ω, defined as the ratio of the causal time window available to an observer to the computational time required to reverse the system's instantaneous dynamics. Crucially, we argue that the quantum-to-classical transition is not a consequence of accumulated historical complexity, but a property of the current action: quantum behavior corresponds to actions where the complexity generation is reversible (Ω >> 1), while classical behavior corresponds to actions where the generated complexity renders the state effectively undecidable (Ω << 1). This framework explains the stability of macroscopic quantum states (e.g., superconductors) as systems where the "action of complexity generation" is suppressed.
We propose a unified operational framework for the emergence of irreversibility in physical systems. Building on the Relativistic Halting perspective, we introduce the dimensionless Relativistic Information Ratio, Ω, defined as the ratio of the causal time window available to an observer to the computational time required to reverse the system's instantaneous dynamics. Crucially, we argue that the quantum-to-classical transition is not a consequence of accumulated historical complexity, but a property of the current action: quantum behavior corresponds to actions where the complexity generation is reversible (Ω >> 1), while classical behavior corresponds to actions where the generated complexity renders the state effectively undecidable (Ω << 1). This framework explains the stability of macroscopic quantum states (e.g., superconductors) as systems where the "action of complexity generation" is suppressed.
We propose a kinematic criterion for the emergence of irreversibility in extended physical systems. By integrating the Quantum Lyapunov Exponent (λL)—characterizing the rate of information scrambling—with the relativistic causal bound (c), we derive a dimensionless stability parameter Ω. We demonstrate that when the scrambling rate exceeds the system’s internal causal synchronization bandwidth (Ω > 1), the physical reconstruction of an inverse time-evolution operator ˆU † becomes operationally impossible within the causal horizon. This work provides a unified, first-principles derivation for the quantum-to-classical transition, verifying experimental decoherence thresholds in mesoscopic interferometry and superconducting qubit arrays. We propose Ω as a candidate universal instability parameter marking the breakdown of operational unitarity.
We present a unified operational framework for the arrow of time grounded in irreversible information loss. While microscopic physical laws are time-reversal invariant, macroscopic irreversibility arises when systems overwrite metastable records. We show that recent reversible quantum-control experiments do not reverse time, but instead operate in regimes where no logically irreversible record is created. To formalize this, we introduce the **forgetting rate** (Ξcr), a coarse-grained rate defined on physically selected metastable record states (e.g., pointer states, memory registers, or macroscopic configurations). Unlike standard entropy production, which is expressed in terms of microscopic transition asymmetry, (Ξcr) captures the **rate of irreversible record overwriting**. In this formulation, entropy production obeys the lower boundS˙irr≥kBΞcr,consistent with Landauer's principle but expressed at the level of record dynamics. Within this framework, thermodynamic, quantum-measurement, psychological, and cosmological arrows emerge as substrate-dependent manifestations of Ξcr>0. Temporal asymmetry is therefore not a single global property, but a distributed feature of physical information-processing systems. The approach naturally explains the decoupling of arrows in composite systems and identifies experimentally accessible regimes where irreversibility can be locally suppressed. This work does not introduce a new microscopic law but provides a unifying, operational reformulation that connects information thermodynamics, decoherence theory, and memory dynamics through a single coarse-grained rate.
We develop a theoretical framework in which physical irreversibility is understood as a failure of information reconstruction rather than information destruction. We argue that physical systems pass through three distinct regimes: coherent quantum information, classically accessible information stabilized by decoherence and redundancy, and thermodynamically dispersed information that remains globally encoded but locally unrecoverable. Transitions between these regimes are driven by entropy growth, environmental coupling, and computational complexity, imposing sharp limits on reconstructability even under globally unitary dynamics. This framework clarifies the physical meaning of irreversibility and provides a unified interpretation of memory formation, quantum measurement, thermalization, and black hole evaporation.
This paper proposes a recoverability-based framework for understanding quantum measurement, addressing the long-standing measurement problem from an information-theoretic perspective. Rather than assuming a fundamental wavefunction collapse, the framework describes observation as a transition in the recoverability of phase information encoded in system–environment correlations. As interactions with the environment disperse this information, the ability to reconstruct coherent quantum states becomes effectively lost, resulting in the emergence of classical behavior. A key feature of this approach is its interpretation independence. The same formal structure accommodates both collapse and non-collapse interpretations, allowing a clear separation between observable phenomena and interpretative assumptions. In this sense, the work reframes the measurement problem not as a question of physical collapse, but as a problem of information accessibility and recoverability. The framework is connected to experimentally relevant concepts such as decoherence, interference loss, and quantum error correction, providing a unified structural perspective across quantum foundations and quantum information. This work does not introduce a new dynamical law, but instead offers a conceptual reorganization of the measurement problem, potentially serving as a bridge between existing interpretations. quantum measurementmeasurement problemdecoherencequantum informationrecoverabilitywavefunction collapsequantum foundations
The quantum measurement problem remains one of the most profound unresolved issues in fundamental physics. While quantum mechanics delivers extraordinarily precise statistical predictions, it does not specify a physical mechanism by which definite classical outcomes arise from quantum superpositions. Decoherence theory accounts for the suppression of interference but does not explain outcome selection or the stability of classical reality. This paper investigates quantum measurement within the framework of Relativistic Coherent Vacuum Gravity Theory (rCVGT). In rCVGT, the vacuum is modeled as a structured relativistic medium characterized by a coherence order parameter ψ(x), a coherence magnitude Q(x) = |ψ(x)|², a vacuum-flow four-field u^μ(x), and a physical time-rate field τ(x). We propose that quantum measurement corresponds to a dynamical instability of vacuum coherence induced by macroscopic coupling to matter and radiation. Classical outcomes emerge when local vacuum coherence is driven below a critical stability threshold, resulting in an irreversible reconfiguration of the vacuum state. The collapse timescale is determined by the vacuum-coherence self-energy defined within rCVGT. This mechanism simultaneously provides a physical foundation for classicality, irreversibility, and the arrow of time. The framework preserves the formal structure and empirical predictions of quantum mechanics while offering a unified physical explanation of measurement grounded in relativistic vacuum dynamics.
Abstract The ontological status of time remains unresolved in fundamental physics. In quantum mechanics, time appears as an external classical parameter, whereas in general relativity it is dynamical and intertwined with spacetime geometry. Canonical approaches to quantum gravity, most notably the Wheeler–DeWitt formulation, eliminate time altogether, leading to the well-known “problem of time.” These tensions motivate frameworks in which time is not fundamental but emergent. In this work, we propose a discrete, update-based framework in which the universe evolves through a sequence of global quantum states indexed by an abstract update parameter rather than by a physical time coordinate. Evolution is formulated as a completely positive, trace-preserving (CPTP) quantum channel acting on the universal density operator, ensuring exact conservation of probability and global quantum information at every update. The framework is deliberately conservative: it preserves the formal structure of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, enforces vacuum stability, and supports global conservation laws without introducing new dynamical postulates. Within this setting, time emerges relationally at the level of subsystems. As subsystems become increasingly entangled with their environments, entropy gradients arise that define an effective arrow of time, closely aligned with the thermodynamic arrow. The resulting temporal flow is relative, statistical, and observer-dependent, while the global evolution remains information-preserving and, in the closed-system limit, reversible. We explore the implications of this framework for cosmology and black hole physics. The Big Bang is reinterpreted as an initial quantum state rather than a singular beginning of time, avoiding temporal singularities. Black hole evaporation is shown to be compatible with unitary evolution when the full quantum state is considered, naturally reproducing the expected Page curve and resolving the apparent information paradox. Overall, the framework provides a coherent, minimal setting in which time, irreversibility, and cosmological history emerge from quantum correlations rather than from a fundamental temporal background.