We propose a thermodynamic variational framework in which quantum mechanics, classical dynamics, and gravitation emerge as equilibrium regimes of a single free-energy functional defined on probability distributions rather than on trajectories, wavefunctions, or spacetime metrics. The functional balances Fisher information, potential energy, and Shannon entropy, encoding an exploration–exploitation trade-off uniquely fixed by information-theoretic considerations. Matching the Fisher term to the quantum kinetic energy fixes its coefficient without free parameters. Extremization of the functional yields the continuity equation and the quantum Hamilton–Jacobi equation, and thus reproduces the Schrödinger equation as a thermodynamic equilibrium condition. At mesoscopic scales, competition between Fisher information and entropy introduces a characteristic quantum–classical crossover length that provides a thermodynamic perspective on decoherence. Measurement is interpreted as an irreversible thermodynamic transition, with energetic costs bounded by Landauer's principle. In the macroscopic regime, we show that requiring thermodynamic stability and local boundary response selects area-law entropy scaling as the leading contribution under stated assumptions. Given an area-law entropy, standard local arguments recover Einstein's field equations. The framework yields falsifiable predictions across quantum, mesoscopic, and gravitational regimes.
We propose a thermodynamic variational framework in which quantum mechanics, classical dynamics, and gravitation emerge as equilibrium regimes of a single free-energy functional defined on probability distributions rather than on trajectories, wavefunctions, or spacetime metrics. The functional balances Fisher information, potential energy, and Shannon entropy, encoding an exploration–exploitation trade-off uniquely fixed by information-theoretic considerations. Matching the Fisher term to the quantum kinetic energy fixes its coefficient without free parameters. Extremization of the functional yields the continuity equation and the quantum Hamilton–Jacobi equation, and thus reproduces the Schrödinger equation as a thermodynamic equilibrium condition. At mesoscopic scales, competition between Fisher information and entropy introduces a characteristic quantum–classical crossover length that provides a thermodynamic perspective on decoherence. Measurement is interpreted as an irreversible thermodynamic transition, with energetic costs bounded by Landauer's principle. In the macroscopic regime, we show that requiring thermodynamic stability and local boundary response selects area-law entropy scaling as the leading contribution under stated assumptions. Given an area-law entropy, standard local arguments recover Einstein's field equations. The framework yields falsifiable predictions across quantum, mesoscopic, and gravitational regimes.
Existing information-theoretic derivations of quantum mechanics from Fisher informationlack a thermodynamic embedding: they contain no temperature, no entropy, and no free-energy balance, and therefore cannot address the quantum–classical boundary within thesame variational structure. We show that this limitation is removed by a Helmholtz-typefree-energy functional on probability distributions in which Fisher information provides theenergy and relative Shannon entropy, weighted by an effective temperature ϑ, provides theentropic cost. Chentsov’s theorem and the Shore–Johnson axioms constrain this functionalup to two coefficients, one of which is fixed by consistency with the quantum kinetic energy.At ϑ= 0 the functional reproduces the Fisher-information variational principle of Reginattoand Hall–Reginatto; extremisation of the associated action recovers the Schr¨odinger equationvia the Madelung transformation. Quantum mechanics is thereby identified as the zero-temperature fixed point of the Helmholtz structure. The finite-temperature sector ϑ > 0,which has no counterpart in previous approaches, yields three results: a gauge-invariantbalance scale Lc = ℏ/2√mϑ at which both the free-energy descent and the gradient-flowspreading law change character — the spreading exponent crossing over from the quantum-pressure value 1/4 to the diffusive value 1/2 — together with, under harmonic confinement,a genuine variationally stable minimum interpolating between the exact quantum ground-state and classical equipartition widths; a dissipation bound for localisation transitions,derived from a Wasserstein gradient flow with Lyapunov structure, from which Landauer’sprinciple follows as a corollary in the entropy-dominated regime; and a thermodynamicstability property that singles out the Born weights as the unique stable basin fractionsunder the dissipative dynamics, presented as a consistency check.
We construct a composite variational functional K on the space of quantum density operators, built from three information-theoretic components: quantum relative entropy (measuring deviation from global consistency), record-consistency variance penalties (enforcing definiteness of macroscopic records), and boundary-compression divergence (penalizing deviations in boundary encoding). We prove that this single functional recovers three distinct pillars of physics in three limiting regimes: Helmholtz free-energy minimization in thermodynamic equilibrium (exactly, via the Jaynes identity), environment-induced superselection in the quantum measurement limit (for commuting record operators, reproducing Zurek's einselection), and the Einstein field equations in the semiclassical gravitational limit (via the Jacobson thermodynamic route, with the Clausius relation derived as a fixed-point condition rather than assumed). The gradient flow of K with respect to the Bures-Riemannian metric on density-operator space is proven to be well-posed for finite-dimensional systems, with exponential convergence following from the lambda-convexity of quantum relative entropy. We establish a uniqueness characterization: K is the unique functional (up to monotone reparameterization) satisfying scale universality, boundary sensitivity, record consistency, CPTP monotonicity, and reduction to known physics. The Lagrange multipliers in the record-consistency term are not free parameters but are determined by physically measurable decoherence timescales, yielding a framework with no adjustable constants beyond those already present in quantum mechanics and general relativity. This work provides a unified variational language for thermodynamics, decoherence, and gravitation, grounded in established mathematics: quantum information geometry, gradient flows in metric spaces, and thermodynamic derivations of gravitational dynamics.
Entropic Dynamics (ED) provides a statistical-inferential foundation for physical laws, deriving motion and field equations from principles of entropy maximization rather than quantization postulates. ED reconstructs quantum mechanics by treating the evolution of probability distributions on configuration space as driven by information constraints, yielding the Schrodinger equation as a non-dissipative diffusion process. Building on this foundation, the present work extends the ED framework into a Unified Entropic Dynamics (UED) formulation that encompasses classical, quantum, relativistic, thermodynamic, and gravitational phenomena within a single information geometric principle. By maximizing entropy subject to constraints on diffusion, drift, and gauge covariance over a manifold endowed with a supermetric H_ab, we derive a universal field equation that merges the Fokker-Planck and Hamilton-Jacobi structures into one covariant form. When specialized to different dynamical variables, this equation reproduces the harmonic oscillator, Schrodinger, Maxwell, Klein-Gordon, and gravitational wave equations, thereby revealing a deep equivalence between probabilistic inference and dynamical law. The UED framework demonstrates that spacetime geometry, quantum coherence and thermodynamic diffusion emerge as complementary expressions of the same entropic process, establishing a unified inferential foundation for both microscopic and macroscopic physics. In this formulation, energy, probability, and entropy are intertwined aspects of information geometry, providing a consistent inferential foundation for understanding classical, quantum, and gravitational dynamics as complementary expressions of a single entropic law.
We construct a composite variational functional K = K_ent + K_rec + K_bdry on the space of density operators, built from quantum relative entropy, record-consistency penalties, and boundary-compression divergence. We prove that K recovers three pillars of physics in three limits: free-energy minimization (exactly), environment-induced superselection (for commuting record operators), and the Einstein field equations (via the Jacobson route, with the Clausius relation and Bianchi identity derived rather than assumed). Beyond recovering known results, we show that the three sectors of K cycle through dominance as physical conditions change, and that the crossover regimes, where two sectors are simultaneously relevant, yield new, quantitative predictions inaccessible to any single-sector theory. We derive the crossover scales separating the thermodynamic, measurement, and gravitational regimes and identify a concrete laboratory prediction: population-dependent decoherence rates for quantum systems, governed by the competition between K_ent and K_rec. The gradient flow of K with respect to the Bures metric is proven well-posed with exponential convergence. The Lagrange multipliers in the record term are determined by physically measurable decoherence timescales, introducing no constants beyond those already present in quantum mechanics and general relativity.
This work presents an extended, mathematically complete formulation of the Information Geometry Unification Principle (IGUP), a foundational framework in which quantum mechanics, statistical thermodynamics, general relativity, and spacetime geometry emerge from a single information-theoretic ontology. We begin with rigorous axioms defining information as the primary physical substance, then systematically construct the Bures–Fisher–Rao metric on the manifold of quantum density matrices. We derive the universal information action functional and perform full variational derivations to obtain the unified field equations. We show explicitly how standard physical theories including the Schrödinger equation, Heisenberg picture, Liouville mechanics, classical thermodynamics, and Einstein field equations are recovered in appropriate limiting regimes. We further derive geometric expressions for entanglement, entropy, temperature, energy, and force. The theory resolves longstanding conceptual tensions between unitary quantum evolution and gravitational irreversibility, provides a natural resolution to the black hole information paradox, and yields eight concrete, experimentally testable predictions. This extended version includes full tensor calculus, covariant derivatives, curvature expansions, and limit theorems, amounting to a self-contained theory of everything based on Geometry=Information.
This paper proposes a fundamental framework based on information geometry that unifies quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and spacetime geometry into a single foundational theory. Starting from three elementary axioms regarding information as the primary physical ontology, we derive the universal information metric, construct the information action functional, and show that all known physical laws emerge as extremal conditions of this functional. The theory recovers standard quantum mechanics, classical thermodynamics, and general relativity in appropriate limits, while predicting new relations between quantum entanglement, gravitational curvature, and entropy. We conclude that all physical phenomena—matter, energy, spacetime, and interactions—are equivalent to geometric structures on the space of quantum information states.