General relativity and quantum mechanics rely on fundamentally incompatible conceptions of spacetime: the former treats spacetime as a smooth, dynamical entity, while the latter presupposes a fixed background on which quantum states evolve. This work introduces the Collapse Spacetime Model (CSM), a foundational framework in which spacetime itself is not fundamental but emerges from discrete ontological transition events (OTEs)—objective, irreversible acts of actualization that generate localized spacetime structure. Within CSM, quantum state reduction is reinterpreted as one particular manifestation of a more general ontological transition, rather than as an anomaly within unitary dynamics. A central refinement, the Multiplicity of Spacetime Hypothesis (MSH), proposes that physical systems construct their own partial spacetimes, with the classical spacetime continuum arising from stable intersections among these locally generated structures. Constants such as the speed of light are interpreted as invariant structural ratios of spacetime co-generation, rather than as fundamental properties of matter or signals. The model aligns conceptually with causal set theory, emergent network geometry, and collapse-based approaches, while offering a unified ontological account of spacetime emergence, time’s passage, and the relational origin of geometry. CSM reframes physical reality as a becoming universe, providing a coherent foundation for quantum gravity, cosmology, and the philosophy of time, while deliberately postponing detailed dynamical and mathematical formalization to future work.
General relativity and quantum mechanics rely on fundamentally incompatible conceptions of spacetime: the former treats spacetime as a smooth, dynamical entity, while the latter presupposes a fixed background on which quantum states evolve. This work introduces the Collapse Spacetime Model (CSM), a foundational framework in which spacetime itself is not fundamental but emerges from discrete ontological transition events (OTEs)—objective, irreversible acts of actualization that generate localized spacetime structure. Within CSM, quantum state reduction is reinterpreted as one particular manifestation of a more general ontological transition, rather than as an anomaly within unitary dynamics. A central refinement, the Multiplicity of Spacetime Hypothesis (MSH), proposes that physical systems construct their own partial spacetimes, with the classical spacetime continuum arising from stable intersections among these locally generated structures. Constants such as the speed of light are interpreted as invariant structural ratios of spacetime co-generation, rather than as fundamental properties of matter or signals. The model aligns conceptually with causal set theory, emergent network geometry, and collapse-based approaches, while offering a unified ontological account of spacetime emergence, time’s passage, and the relational origin of geometry. CSM reframes physical reality as a becoming universe, providing a coherent foundation for quantum gravity, cosmology, and the philosophy of time, while deliberately postponing detailed dynamical and mathematical formalization to future work.
This work proposes a novel conceptual framework for the foundations of physics, based on the idea that physical reality emerges from a discrete causal network of events and the accumulation of "memory" associated with these interactions. Unlike standard approaches, spacetime and elementary particles are not presupposed but emerge dynamically. The theory reinterprets General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics as manifestations of this memory dynamic in different density regimes. Concepts such as quantum collapse, the arrow of time, and particle properties are derived within this causal ontology. The work explores the consequences of applying the Heideggerian philosophical concept of historicity to the foundations of physics. Detailed appendices provide the mathematical formalization and emergent derivations.
The Collapse of Time explores a foundational reversal in quantum theory, proposing that time emerges from the process of wavefunction collapse rather than acting as a pre-existing background. Probability is treated as quantum possibility that becomes classical reality through irreversible collapse events. In contrast to gravity-induced collapse models, this framework examines whether collapse itself may generate temporal structure and gravitational imprinting. The work complements geometric collapse approaches by reframing the quantum-to-classical transition as the physical origin of time, causality, and classical structure. This paper is intended as a conceptual exploration. For the complete formal geometric framework, please use the link below..
Modern theoretical physics rests on two highly successful but conceptually distinct frameworks: quantum mechanics and general relativity. While both theories are experimentally confirmed to high precision within their respective domains, they rely on fundamentally different starting points. General relativity takes spacetime as a primitive geometric structure, whereas quantum mechanics is formulated in terms of abstract state spaces without intrinsic spacetime meaning. Most approaches to quantum gravity attempt to reconcile this tension by modifying, quantizing, or discretizing spacetime itself. Even in approaches where spacetime is said to be “emergent,” it typically remains the primary conceptual backdrop on which physical processes are defined. Despite extensive efforts, there is no consensus on whether spacetime should be regarded as fundamental or derivative. In this work, a more radical starting point is explored. Rather than modifying spacetime or its geometry, we ask whether spacetime can be excluded entirely from the fundamental layer of the theory and recovered only at a later, operational stage. The central question is not how spacetime behaves, but whether the notion of “what lies between physical objects” must be spatial or temporal at the most fundamental level. We propose a framework—referred to here as Super Relativity (SR)—based on a single pre-geometric postulate: the existence of a monotonically expanding set of possible quantum configurations, referred to as the flux. Formally, this flux is represented as a monotone, σ-finite family of capacity measures on a common configuration space (introduced in Section 2). This postulate deliberately refrains from assuming spacetime, time ordering, metric structure, causality, or dynamics. Within this pre-geometric core, two derived, dimensionless notions are introduced: utilization, describing the realization of configurations, and saturation, defined as the ratio between utilized and available configurations. A central structural element of SR is the strict separation between a core layer and an interface layer. In the core layer, all quantities are pre-geometric and dimensionless, and no reference is made to space, time, motion, energy, or interaction. Only at the interface layer are operational notions introduced, including clocks, rulers, and signal propagation. Spacetime, in this construction, is not a dynamical entity but an effective bookkeeping structure that encodes relative rates of change once a calibration to physical units is performed. Within this framework, gravitational phenomena do not originate from spacetime curvature taken as fundamental. Instead, they arise from variations in saturation that, at the interface level, manifest as uniform rescalings of physical processes. When expressed in geometric language, these rescalings reproduce the standard predictions of general relativity, including gravitational time dilation and the equivalence between gravitation and acceleration. The invariant local speed of light is not postulated but follows as a derived consequence, since both clock rates and signal propagation are affected identically by the same underlying saturation mechanism. The aim of this paper is not to introduce new empirical predictions beyond those of general relativity, nor to present a complete theory of quantum gravity. Rather, the objective is foundational: to demonstrate that the mathematical structure of general relativity can be reconstructed from a single pre-geometric postulate without assuming spacetime as part of the fundamental ontology. In this sense, SR should be understood as a reconstruction and reinterpretation of known physics, rather than as a competing dynamical theory. An extended and fully explicit formulation of the framework, including all intermediate steps, is available in a companion preprint (version V12) deposited on Zenodo. The present paper restricts itself to the minimal conceptual and mathematical structure required to establish logical consistency and to demonstrate the emergence of general-relativistic behavior at the interface level.
This study proposes a conceptual framework in which time and space are derived from quantum state transitions rather than being treated as fundamental background entities. Temporal progression is interpreted as the ordered sequence of discrete quantum state changes, while spatial structure emerges from relational properties among quantum states.Within this framework, time is defined operationally as the measurable rate of quantum state evolution, and space arises from correlations and structural relations between quantum systems. The approach suggests that spacetime may be understood as an emergent construct grounded in quantum dynamics rather than as a primary ontological structure.The implications of this interpretation are discussed in relation to general relativity and quantum mechanics, with attention to cosmological considerations and foundational questions in theoretical physics.
We present an ontological and dynamic derivation of wave function collapse within the context of General Relativity formulated as a Quantum Theory (GRQT), a formulation that maintains ontological realism and conceptual continuity with General Relativity. Starting exclusively from the discrete geometric structure of spacetime and its fundamental elastic properties, we demonstrate that collapse constitutes neither an additional postulate of quantum mechanics nor an external phenomenological effect, but emerges as a necessary consequence of the requirement for geometric consistency in the temporal update of the causal lattice. We show that quantum superpositions of massive systems imply geometric bifurcations of spacetime, associated with incompatible metrics in the transition between successive simultaneity slices. The energy identified in Objective Reduction theories as gravitational self-interaction energy is reinterpreted, in GRQT, as the elastic deformation energy of the lattice, governed by the fundamental geometric impedance α. We derive a quantitative criterion for the viability of temporal evolution and a closed-form expression for the characteristic collapse time, without introducing free parameters. Wave function collapse thus arises as the physical process by which spacetime eliminates geometric ambiguities incompatible with the unique definition of the subsequent slice, preserving the topological continuity of the causal manifold. The boundary between quantum and classical regimes becomes quantitative and derived, resolving the measurement problem in strictly geometric terms. The formulation maintains ontological realism, conceptual continuity with General Relativity, and provides explicit experimental predictions in mesoscopic regimes.
A bstract Assuming that Quantum Mechanics is universal and that it can be applied over all scales, then the Universe is allowed to be in a quantum superposition of states, where each of them can correspond to a different space-time geometry. How can one then describe the emergence of the classical, well-defined geometry that we observe? Considering that the decoherence-driven quantum-to-classical transition relies on external physical entities, this process cannot account for the emergence of the classical behaviour of the Universe. Here, we show how models of spontaneous collapse of the wavefunction can offer a viable mechanism for explaining such an emergence. We apply it to a simple General Relativity dynamical model for gravity and a perfect fluid. We show that, by starting from a general quantum superposition of different geometries, the collapse dynamics leads to a single geometry, thus providing a possible mechanism for the quantum-to-classical transition of the Universe. Similarly, when applying our dynamics to the physically-equivalent Parametrised Unimodular gravity model, we obtain a collapse on the basis of the cosmological constant, where eventually one precise value is selected, thus providing also a viable explanation for the cosmological constant problem. Our formalism can be easily applied to other quantum cosmological models where we can choose a well-defined clock variable.