Abstract We propose physical distinguishability as the fundamental primitive underlying quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics. A state is defined operationally: two states are physically distinct if a physical interaction or measurement can reveal a difference between them. From this single principle, the distinguishability divergence D generates a smooth state space endowed with a Riemannian metric , a geometric velocity, an accessibility scale Λ, an accessibility ratio , and a geometric time . The framework provides a unified geometric description of the three major domains of physics. Quantum mechanics emerges through the Fubini–Study geometry of projective Hilbert space, thermodynamics through Fisher–Rao and Ruppeiner information geometry, and general relativity through the geometry of geodesic deviation. The threshold condition A=1acquires a universal physical meaning and appears in all three realizations as the boundary between physically accessible and inaccessible evolution. Variational formulations of both the Einstein and Schrödinger equations are constructed within the same geometric framework. The Lorentzian signature of spacetime emerges from a single sign reversal associated with the geometric-time direction, while the coupling constant of the distinguishability action is connected to the observed vacuum energy density. The framework further predicts a characteristic vacuum distinguishability scale ≈8.8×10^(-5) m, corresponding to an energy scale≈2.25" " meV. The theory is tested experimentally on IBM Quantum superconducting processors. Across one-qubit, two-qubit, 127-qubit, and 156-qubit experiments performed on three independent Heron-generation backends, excitation probabilities collapse onto universal curves when parameterized by endpoint Fubini–Study distinguishability. Protocols with identical laboratory control parameters but different endpoint distinguishabilities produce excitation probabilities differing by up to a factor of 3.8, while protocols with identical distinguishability produce identical outcomes across independent processors. Cross-backend transfer errors remain below 1%, providing direct experimental support for endpoint distinguishability as a universal physical variable. Taken together, the theoretical construction, variational formulations, vacuum-sector predictions, and large-scale quantum-processor experiments support distinguishability geometry as a unified and experimentally testable foundation for physical dynamics.
Abstract We propose physical distinguishability as the fundamental primitive underlying quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics. A state is defined operationally: two states are physically distinct if a physical interaction or measurement can reveal a difference between them. From this single principle, the distinguishability divergence D generates a smooth state space endowed with a Riemannian metric , a geometric velocity, an accessibility scale Λ, an accessibility ratio , and a geometric time . The framework provides a unified geometric description of the three major domains of physics. Quantum mechanics emerges through the Fubini–Study geometry of projective Hilbert space, thermodynamics through Fisher–Rao and Ruppeiner information geometry, and general relativity through the geometry of geodesic deviation. The threshold condition A=1acquires a universal physical meaning and appears in all three realizations as the boundary between physically accessible and inaccessible evolution. Variational formulations of both the Einstein and Schrödinger equations are constructed within the same geometric framework. The Lorentzian signature of spacetime emerges from a single sign reversal associated with the geometric-time direction, while the coupling constant of the distinguishability action is connected to the observed vacuum energy density. The framework further predicts a characteristic vacuum distinguishability scale ≈8.8×10^(-5) m, corresponding to an energy scale≈2.25" " meV. The theory is tested experimentally on IBM Quantum superconducting processors. Across one-qubit, two-qubit, 127-qubit, and 156-qubit experiments performed on three independent Heron-generation backends, excitation probabilities collapse onto universal curves when parameterized by endpoint Fubini–Study distinguishability. Protocols with identical laboratory control parameters but different endpoint distinguishabilities produce excitation probabilities differing by up to a factor of 3.8, while protocols with identical distinguishability produce identical outcomes across independent processors. Cross-backend transfer errors remain below 1%, providing direct experimental support for endpoint distinguishability as a universal physical variable. Taken together, the theoretical construction, variational formulations, vacuum-sector predictions, and large-scale quantum-processor experiments support distinguishability geometry as a unified and experimentally testable foundation for physical dynamics.
Abstract We propose physical distinguishability as the fundamental primitive underlying quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics. A state is defined operationally: two states are physically distinct if a physical interaction or measurement can reveal a difference between them. From this principle, a geometric structure emerges on the space of physical states, generating a universal accessibility measure and a geometric notion of time. A single threshold condition appears across all three domains, corresponding to the quantum speed limit, event horizons in gravity, and critical phenomena in thermodynamics. Within this framework, the standard Schrödinger equation is recovered in the quantum sector, while Einstein gravity emerges in the thermodynamic horizon sector. The framework also provides a geometric origin for the Lorentzian structure of spacetime and identifies the roles of Planck’s constant, the speed of light, and Boltzmann’s constant as conversion factors linking different physical realizations of distinguishability dynamics. The theory predicts a characteristic vacuum distinguishability scale of approximately 103 μm and an associated energy scale of approximately 7.6 meV. These quantities connect quantum-vacuum physics, neutrino-scale phenomena, and cosmological scales within a single geometric description. The framework is tested experimentally on IBM Quantum superconducting processors. Across one-qubit, two-qubit, 127-qubit, and 156-qubit experiments performed on three independent Heron-generation backends, excitation probabilities collapse onto universal curves when parameterized by endpoint distinguishability. Protocols with identical control parameters but different endpoint distinguishabilities produce outcomes differing by up to a factor of 3.8, while protocols with identical endpoint distinguishabilities yield consistent results across independent processors. Cross-backend transfer errors remain below 1%. In addition to quantum-computing experiments, the framework suggests new tests in precision metrology, including atomic-force and scanning-tunneling microscopy, where large probe displacements may provide an independent route for testing vacuum distinguishability effects. Taken together, the theoretical construction, vacuum-sector predictions, and quantum-hardware experiments support distinguishability geometry as a unified and experimentally testable framework for physical dynamics.
Abstract We take physical distinguishability as the sole primitive of physics: two states are distinct if and only if some measurement can tell them apart. From this single principle, a geometry emerges on the space of all physical states. Its universal threshold — the point where the rate of change of distinguishability saturates — is simultaneously the quantum speed limit, the event horizon of a black hole, and the critical point of a thermodynamic phase transition. Quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics are three expressions of the same geometric threshold on different state spaces; the constants ℏ, c , and k B are conversion factors between them. Within this structure, we identify a parameter-free geometric mechanism that yields the Schrödinger equation; the Einstein field equations, exactly on the horizon and in the bulk to corrections below 10⁻³² for stationary configurations (the fully dynamical case is not established here); the Lorentzian signature of spacetime; and a structural mechanism that reduces the standard 10¹²³ discrepancy of the cosmological constant problem to order unity, conditional on two framework-internal postulates (Section 13.8). Applying this, the framework evaluates a vacuum length scale of ~88 μm and energy ~2.25 meV from the observed dark-energy density, placing the dominant source in the lightest neutrino sector. The framework further suggests that macroscopic quantum coherence suppresses geodesic distinguishability — the Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) analogue of the Meissner effect — with a predicted breathing-mode shift of ~1.5 mHz in ⁸⁷Rb. IBM Quantum experiments on three independent 156-qubit Heron processors show excitation probabilities differing by a factor of ≈3.7 across protocols with identical control parameters but different geometric paths, consistent with the prediction that endpoint distinguishability governs the outcome. Cross-backend transfer errors remain below 1%. Physical reality is what is distinguishable. The laws of nature are the geometry of distinguishability.
Abstract We take physical distinguishability as the sole primitive of physics: two states are distinct if and only if some measurement can tell them apart. From this single principle, a geometry emerges on the space of all physical states. Its universal threshold — the point where the rate of change of distinguishability saturates — is simultaneously the quantum speed limit, the event horizon of a black hole, and the critical point of a thermodynamic phase transition. Quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics are three expressions of the same geometric threshold on different state spaces; the constants ℏ, c , and k B are conversion factors between them. Within this structure, we identify a parameter-free geometric mechanism that yields the Schrödinger equation; the Einstein field equations both on the horizon (exactly) and in the bulk (to corrections smaller than 10⁻³² at all accessible energies); the Lorentzian signature of spacetime; and a structural resolution of the cosmological constant problem, reducing the standard discrepancy of 10¹²³ to order unity. Consequently, the framework evaluates a vacuum length scale of 88 μm and energy 2.25 meV from the observed dark-energy density, placing the dominant source in the lightest neutrino sector. The framework further suggests that macroscopic quantum coherence suppresses geodesic distinguishability — the Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) analogue of the Meissner effect — with a predicted breathing-mode shift of ~1.5 mHz in ⁸⁷Rb. IBM Quantum experiments on three independent 156-qubit Heron processors show excitation probabilities differing by a factor of 3.8 across protocols with identical control parameters but different geometric paths, consistent with the prediction that endpoint distinguishability governs the outcome. Cross-backend transfer errors remain below 1%. Physical reality is what is distinguishable. The laws of nature are the geometry of distinguishability.
We develop an extended formulation of Universal Modular Dynamics (UMD) in which physical law is organized as a hierarchy of nested, renormalization-stable informational phases emerging from a pre-quantum domain of distinguishability. The construction does not assume spacetime, locality, quantum fields, or graph structure as fundamental. Instead, the primitive level is defined through relations of distinguishability between pre-physical configurations, whose dynamically persistent sectors provide the substrate from which effective operator states and subsequent physical structures emerge. Within this architecture, previously derived pre-string configurations are interpreted as a particular low-dimensional stable sector of the broader UMD pre-quantum state space, rather than as the universal starting point of the theory. Their collective scaling behavior admits an effective graph limit, providing a controlled route from pre-string organization to relational connectivity and, subsequently, to operational subsystem structure. This graph limit is therefore emergent and sector-dependent, rather than ontologically primitive. At the operator level, the density matrix ρ becomes the carrier of distinguishability and generates modular structure through K = −log ρ, Kρ|σ = −log ρ + log σ. Relative modular dynamics, together with completely positive open-system flows, defines a sequence of scale-dependent transformations through which stable subsystem decompositions, operational locality, and finite-speed information propagation emerge. The resulting causal structure is established before continuum spacetime geometry and is governed by Lieb– Robinson-type bounds on the transport of quantum correlations. A central aim of the present work is to sharpen the transition from discrete relational organization to continuum spacetime. We explicitly distinguish the geometry of quantum state space from physical spacetime geometry and formulate the intermediate coarse-graining and scaling conditions required to connect Bogoliubov–Kubo–Mori information geometry, correlation-based relational distances, and an effective continuum metric. Einstein-type dynamics is then interpreted as an entropic consistency condition of the emergent geometric phase, arising from local information balance and variational stability rather than from a fundamental spacetime background. The same hierarchical framework is extended to access-relative vacuum structure and hidden-sector dynamics. Dark-energy-like behavior is associated with stable entropic vacuum drift relative to an observer-accessible algebra, while dark-matter-like effects arise from correlations and backreaction between visible and inaccessible sectors. These mechanisms are embedded within the same renormalization hierarchy rather than introduced as independent cosmological components. We further characterize regimes in which metricity, causal ordering, and stable factorization fail, defining non-geometric phases relevant to the breakdown of the spacetime description in extreme gravitational and early-universe regimes. Throughout the construction, we distinguish theorem-level results, conditional emergence statements, numerical evidence, and phenomenological predictions, and we identify explicit falsifiability conditions for the principal UMD claims. The resulting picture is that physical law is not represented by a single primitive dynamical equation imposed on a pre-existing arena, but by a recursively organized hierarchy of informational structures whose stable renormalization sectors generate quantum states, locality, causality, geometry, gravitation, and effective dark-sector phenomena.
When does operational distinguishability contain sufficient information to identify physical structure? We address this question through a resource-relative framework of Operational Informational Distinguishability (OID), designed to investigate the mathematical consistency of identifiability across quantum states, information geometry, and physical processes. An operational observer is characterized by (\mathcal{D}=(\mathcal{A},\mathcal{M},\mathcal{R},\delta)), whose labelled outcome distributions define an operational signature and induce equivalence classes of physically indistinguishable realizations. We establish an exact reconstruction criterion: a proposed geometric assignment factors uniquely through the operational signature if and only if it is constant on these equivalence classes. This provides a necessary-and-sufficient condition for operational reconstruction, while separating identifiability from the additional requirements of local non-degeneracy and stability. For faithful finite-dimensional quantum-state manifolds, we establish the measurement–information-geometric hierarchy[g^{(\mathcal{M})}\preceq g^{\mathrm{SLD}}\preceq g^{\mathrm{BKM}}relating measurement-restricted Fisher information, the symmetric logarithmic derivative metric, and the Bogoliubov–Kubo–Mori metric. We clarify the directional attainability of the SLD bound and its distinction from simultaneous multiparameter attainability. As an explicit algebraic result, we characterize the operator span generated by diagonal phase modulation of cyclic-shift eigenstate projectors in the one-excitation sector: it is precisely the constant-diagonal Hermitian subspace, of dimension (N^{2}-N+1), leaving (N-1) independent population directions unresolved. Adjoining site-basis projectors restores informational completeness. This idealized construction is connected to experimentally realized entangled measurements of (W) states. We further extend operational distinguishability to quantum processes through tester-restricted signatures and divergences, explicitly separating signalling from intervention-defined causal influence. Finally, we introduce accumulated information-geometric path length as a candidate operational clock parameter, without identifying it with physical time. By relating these constructions to holographic information-distance bounds, bulk entanglement, conditional mutual information and recovery, and recent approaches to emergent geometry and informational time, we formulate a central testable question: can a common resource-relative distinguishability structure remain identifiable, stable, and compositionally consistent across states, processes, geometry, temporal ordering, and causality? The framework makes both constructive reconstruction and mathematically explicit obstructions possible, providing a falsifiable methodological program rather than presupposing the emergence or unification of physical structure.
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.