Abstract This work proposes a conceptual connection between phase coherence, the principle of least action, and entropy within a discrete spatial framework. Space is interpreted as a lattice of elementary phase-supporting units, where physical processes occur through phase propagation and closure. Coherent phase evolution corresponds to minimal action and stable transport, while the loss of phase coherence leads to an increase in accessible microscopic configurations and thus entropy. The framework suggests that macroscopic irreversibility may emerge from the progressive breakdown of microscopic phase alignment. Triadic phase propagation, characterized by three equivalent directions separated by 120°, naturally generates hexagonal spatial connectivity and enables phase-cycle closure. This provides a unified geometrical perspective linking quantum coherence, transport processes, and thermodynamic behavior.
Abstract This work proposes a conceptual connection between phase coherence, the principle of least action, and entropy within a discrete spatial framework. Space is interpreted as a lattice of elementary phase-supporting units, where physical processes occur through phase propagation and closure. Coherent phase evolution corresponds to minimal action and stable transport, while the loss of phase coherence leads to an increase in accessible microscopic configurations and thus entropy. The framework suggests that macroscopic irreversibility may emerge from the progressive breakdown of microscopic phase alignment. Triadic phase propagation, characterized by three equivalent directions separated by 120°, naturally generates hexagonal spatial connectivity and enables phase-cycle closure. This provides a unified geometrical perspective linking quantum coherence, transport processes, and thermodynamic behavior.
Abstract Modern physics has achieved extraordinary predictive success through continuous mathematical formulations. However, the underlying nature of space, time, and physical processes remains conceptually open. This work presents a conceptual framework in which physical reality is interpreted as a discrete phase-supported structure. Space is considered as a lattice of elementary units separated at approximately the Planck scale, while time emerges through successive phase-closure events. Within this picture, energy transport, quantum coherence, and observable events are not continuous processes but arise from structured phase propagation. A triadic propagation mechanism naturally generates hexagonal connectivity, while phase closure defines the emergence of physical events. Rather than proposing new physical laws, this work suggests a broader interpretational perspective, encouraging reconsideration of continuity-based assumptions and inviting exploration of phase-based descriptions of physical reality. Author’s Perspective : I would like to submit the attached manuscript entitled: “Quantum Phase, Discrete Space, and the Limits of Continuity: A Conceptual Framework Toward a Phase-Based Interpretation of Physical Reality” for consideration as a conceptual or perspective article in your journal. The work presents a unified interpretational framework in which physical processes are described in terms of discrete phase propagation and phase closure. Rather than introducing new physical laws, the manuscript offers a geometrical and phase-based perspective that aims
Quantum Phase and Discrete Space A Channel-Based Interpretation of Time, Action, and Transport H. Bilgin Ergun, MSc.January 2026 — Bolu / TürkiyeORCID: 0009-0009-4733-4730 Abstract This book presents a unified conceptual framework for interpreting quantum and classical phenomena through discrete space, phase evolution, and channel formation. Rather than introducing new physical laws, it offers a geometrical and phase-based interpretation explaining why established principles such as least action, tunneling, interference, and lossless transport arise so robustly.Space is treated as a discrete phase-supporting structure in which physically meaningful events require completion of coherent phase cycles. Time is not assumed as a continuously flowing parameter, but emerges only after phase closure. Within this framework, transport phenomena are understood as phase-mediated channels rather than energetic violation or predefined trajectories.The approach provides a coherent interpretation of path integrals, tunneling, superconductivity, symmetry relaxation, and observer-induced decoherence, unifying them within a single phase-organized picture compatible with standard quantum formalism. Preface This book does not seek to replace established physical laws. Its purpose is to provide a geometrical and phase-based intuition explaining why those laws operate with such robustness across quantum and classical domains.The ideas presented here have been developed gradually through peer-reviewed articles and DOI-registered preprints. They are brought together in this volume to form a unified narrative accessible to physicists, engineers, and conceptually inclined readers interested in the foundations of physical theory.Author’s prior related work includes: A Phase-Coherence Interpretation of the Jahn–Teller Effect in Discrete Triadic Lattices, Zenodo (H. Bilgin Ergun), Record No: 18289641, Version 1, January 2026. Section 1 — Conceptual Interlude: Time Without Observation In phase-based descriptions, temporal ordering does not precede physical evolution; it emerges only after phase completion. Within a closed system evolving through discrete phase steps, intermediate configurations do not correspond to distinct moments in time but represent pre-temporal phase progressions.If an observer were present at every internal phase step, only the realized outcome would ever be accessible. Section 2 — Phase Selection and the Emergence of Least Action In the path–integral formulation introduced by Feynman, a system formally explores all conceivable trajectories between two configurations. Each path contributes with a phase factor determined by its action. Section 3 — Channel vs Channel-Free Propagation Energy may exist without direction, but direction does not arise without phase coherence. Section 4 — Phase-Guided Tunneling Quantum tunneling represents transport in which energetic transmission is suppressed while phase continuity persists. Section 5 — Collective Phase Locking and Lossless Transport Superconductivity represents the collective limit of phase-guided transport. Closure Note — Observation and Channel Disruption Observation disrupts phase continuity, collapsing channel multiplicity into a single route.
Abstract The 2nd law of thermodynamics is derived from the principle of least action, positing that the quantum of action is the indivisible and indestructible basic building block of everything. On their least-time paths to balance, the quanta move from the system to its surroundings, or vice versa, so that the kinetic, potential, and dissipated energy tally. When re-expressed in logarithmic terms, this current toward more probable states with decreasing free energy equates to the principle of increasing entropy, the 2nd law of thermodynamics, including path-independent dynamic and path dependent geometric phase shifts. Despite being exact, the equation of evolution to entropy maximum, equivalent to free energy minimum, cannot be solved because evolution, consuming its own driving forces, becomes path dependent. Thus, the future remains open within free energy bounds. As discussed, the entropy derived from the statistical physics of open quantum systems sums states distinguishable in energy; whereas, Boltzmann’s entropy enumerates microstates indistinguishable in energy. Consequently, the statistical physics of open systems differs from that of closed systems: The irreversible evolution in the state space toward thermodynamic balance contrasts with the steady-state revolution in phase space between conceivable configurations. This concrete comprehension explains, among other things, that increasing disorder is not a law of nature itself but a consequence of the law to attain balance with incoherent surroundings in the least time.
Coherence, Entropy, and the Arrow of Time: Why Time Has a Direction in a Phase Ontology (Phase Ontology — Part V) proposes a phase-centered explanation for one of physics’ strangest asymmetries: microscopic laws are largely time-symmetric, yet macroscopic reality is not. Cups shatter but do not reassemble; heat flows from hot to cold; correlations decay; memories accumulate. This paper argues that the arrow of time becomes conceptually clear once phase coherence is treated as ontologically primary. In this framework, time is not fundamental. It emerges operationally from countable phase evolution in physical clocks (all clocks are oscillators) and from synchronization between systems. A shared “global time” is therefore a relational structure sustained by coherence, not a background substance that governs dynamics. The paper then reframes entropy growth as the loss of accessible phase information in open systems. As systems interact with environments that contain many degrees of freedom, phase correlations disperse outward and become physically inaccessible, even if not destroyed in principle. Decoherence is elevated from a technical detail to the central engine of macroscopic irreversibility: reversing decoherence would require re-phasing an astronomically large environment, which is practically impossible. Building on Part III, the paper also interprets measurement as phase locking: once a macroscopic coupling stabilizes one local configuration, alternative phase possibilities are effectively dispersed into the environment. Classical definiteness and temporal irreversibility are thus treated as two faces of the same process—coherence flow. This manuscript is Part V of a seven-part series (Parts I–VII). It connects Parts I–IV to time asymmetry and points forward to Part VI (mass, inertia, gravitation) and Part VII (experimental implications and falsifiability).
We introduce the Phase–Coupled Field (PCF) framework: a real scalar field theory in which physical coherence is elevated to a fundamental primitive. A single real phase field ϕ(x), together with its coherent energetics and an explicit dissipative coupling to a thermodynamic conjugate field Θ(x), generates wave-like coherence, decoherence, irreversibility, and the emergence of classical behaviour within one unified action principle.The formalism is variationally grounded in the revised Coherence–Action Principle (CAP v2) and incorporates dissipation through the Thermal Influence Term (TIT). The result is a fully relativistic, coherence-driven field theory capable of describing microscopic interference, macroscopic order, thermalisation, and classical emergence without recourse to Hilbert space.