Abstract Modern physics faces a systemic crisis rooted in the incompatibility between General Relativity (GR) and Quantum Mechanics (QM). This crisis manifests in mathematical inconsistency, unresolved empirical anomalies, conceptual gaps, and the erosion of falsifiability in leading theoretical frameworks. The ZEBTS paradigm proposes a radical ontological shift: replacing spacetime as a fundamental entity with a generative hypergraph G*, whose dynamics produce all observable physical structures. This article presents the conceptual foundations of ZEBTS, formulates its principles, contrasts it with alternative approaches, and outlines its methodological and predictive framework.
Abstract Modern physics faces a systemic crisis rooted in the incompatibility between General Relativity (GR) and Quantum Mechanics (QM). This crisis manifests in mathematical inconsistency, unresolved empirical anomalies, conceptual gaps, and the erosion of falsifiability in leading theoretical frameworks. The ZEBTS paradigm proposes a radical ontological shift: replacing spacetime as a fundamental entity with a generative hypergraph G*, whose dynamics produce all observable physical structures. This article presents the conceptual foundations of ZEBTS, formulates its principles, contrasts it with alternative approaches, and outlines its methodological and predictive framework.
This work proposes a minimal ontological framework aimed at systematically resolving key conceptual paradoxes of contemporary physics. The central claim is that many foundational difficulties of twentieth- and twenty-first-century physics arise not from empirical anomalies or mathematical inconsistencies, but from a conflation of mathematical formalism with ontological interpretation. On the basis of a small set of minimal ontological axioms, the work addresses and resolves ten fundamental paradoxes, including wave–particle duality, the measurement problem and collapse, the arrow of time, irreversibility, quantization, the nature of gravity, cosmological origin, the finiteness of the Universe, the status of singularities, and the information paradox. The proposed framework introduces no new physical entities and does not modify existing physical equations. Instead, it imposes strict ontological constraints from which these phenomena follow as necessary consequences. The work does not present an alternative physical theory, but rather an ontological foundation explaining why modern physical theories are successful and why they encounter inherent explanatory limits.
The core dilemma of modern physics stems from two unproven ontological presuppositions: that spacetime is an innate container preceding matter, and that matter is an entity composed of indivisible particles. These presuppositions have led to the fundamental split between general relativity and quantum mechanics, giving rise to a series of century-old unsolved problems such as wave-particle duality, the quantum measurement paradox, the nature of gravity, and dark matter and dark energy. Based on the sole unfalsifiable first principle that "the essence of cognition is succession", this paper deduces a complete ontological system through pure a priori reasoning: the authentic physical world consists solely of one-dimensional successive rays and their transverse coupling relations; time is the successive extension of rays, space is the network of coupling relations, matter is the steady state of closed coupling, and all interactions are different manifestations of coupling actions. Particles are not authentically existing entities, but rather point-like endpoint phenomena presented in the observer's phenomenal world when two rays undergo an all-or-nothing coupling. Based on this framework, this paper uniformly explains all core phenomena in both the microscopic quantum domain and the macroscopic relativistic domain in one go, resolves all traditional physical paradoxes at the ontological level, achieves the ontological unification of the four fundamental forces, and proposes three falsifiable core predictions. This paper demonstrates that all theories of traditional physics are approximate descriptions of the authentic physical world at the phenomenal level, and their fundamental error lies in mistaking "coupling endpoints" for "primitive entities", thereby reversing the causal relationship. Cognitive Succession Ontology provides a logically consistent and universally unified ultimate foundation for physics.
Student research work in high school on the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics.Abstract:Quantum physics represents one of the most profound conceptual revolutions in modern science,redefining the foundations of matter, energy, and spacetime. This paper presents a structuredtheoretical examination of the development and implications of quantum mechanics, beginningwith the resolution of the ultraviolet catastrophe through energy quantization and extending tothe emergence of wave–particle duality, superposition, and intrinsic indeterminacy. By tracingthe contributions of Planck, Einstein, de Broglie, Schrödinger, Heisenberg, and Dirac, the workanalyzes the transition from classical determinism to probabilistic wave mechanics and thesubsequent formulation of quantum electrodynamics (QED) and quantum field theory (QFT).Particular attention is given to the conceptual shift from particles as localized objects toexcitations of underlying fields, providing a framework for understanding particle interactions,conservation laws, and the Standard Model of particle physics. The tension between quantummechanics and general relativity is examined through the unresolved problem of quantumgravity, highlighting the theoretical limitations that persist at singularities and Planck-scaleregimes. Rather than treating classical and quantum theories as irreconcilable domains, this studyconsiders their structural interplay and philosophical implications, emphasizing the need for aunified framework that coherently incorporates spacetime and quantization. The analysisprovides a qualitative synthesis intended to support future quantitative investigations intofundamental physics and the continued development of quantum technologies.
Abstract Ontic structuralism or ontic structural realism in the philosophy of physics can be broadly considered as an interpretative strategy providing a set of conceptual and metaphysical tools—or, more ambitiously, an ontological framework—in order to account for central features of current fundamental physics. This article aims to review the main structuralist interpretative moves in the context of our two best fundamental physical theories of matter and spacetime, namely, quantum theory (quantum mechanics and quantum field theory) and general relativity. We highlight in particular the structuralist understanding of permutation invariance, entanglement and nonlocality in quantum theory, and of the dynamical features of spacetime, (gauge‐theoretic) diffeomorphism invariance and background independence in general relativity.
PEDLER (Point Event-Driven Learner) is a proposed deterministic event–hypergraph framework for fundamental physics in which physical reality is modeled as a finite, typed, directed hypergraph evolving through local causal rewrite rules. This research poster presents the conceptual foundation of the PEDLER Unified Physics Programme, motivated by unresolved questions surrounding quantum measurement, wavefunction collapse, spacetime, gravity, and cosmology. It introduces the proposed primitive ontology, deterministic event dynamics, causal hypergraph evolution, emergent spacetime, quantum correlations, gauge interactions, black holes, and cosmological evolution within a unified conceptual framework. The poster concludes with an initial collection of foundational axioms, primitive rewrite operators, required emergence theorems, open mathematical problems, and experimentally falsifiable predictions. It is intended as the foundational blueprint for a long-term research programme rather than as a completed physical theory. Mathematical derivations of quantum mechanics, general relativity, gauge theory, particle physics, and cosmology remain objectives of future work requiring rigorous formalization, proof, computational validation, and empirical verification.