Abstract Finite-dimensional local Hilbert spaces are widely used as microscopic regulators and have also been proposed as a fundamental information-capacity property of space-time. A finite local dimension, however, is not equivalent to a spatial lattice spacing, and neither is equivalent to a coarse-graining scale. We formulate a regulator-resolved framework that keeps these three notions separate and defines finite-information deviations operationally as the failure of microscopic and effective time evolution to commute with a specified coarse-graining channel. The resulting deviation is a state- and observable-dependent quantity in a common effective state space, rather than a formal subtraction of generators acting on different domains. We derive a decomposition into capacity, spatial-discretization, and coarse-graining contributions; a finite-time capacity bound controlled by discarded state weight and leakage through the cutoff boundary; observable error bounds; and a sharp continuity bound for subsystem entropies. We further show that block entropy and averaged one-cell entropy differ by a relative-entropy measure of total correlation and therefore cannot be interchanged. An information-geometric expansion of neighboring reduced states yields a nonlinear sigma-model effective action on the manifold of coarse-grained states. A single entropy field follows only under an additional one-dimensional closure condition. Finally, we test the framework in an exactly evolved periodic Klein--Gordon chain with independently variable lattice spacing and local number-state cutoff. Spectral peaks are extracted from dynamical matrix elements rather than imposed. Ground-state, dispersion, reduced-state, and entropy errors converge rapidly with local capacity, while the remaining lattice--continuum discrepancy persists at fixed spacing. The results provide a controlled mathematical and numerical foundation for finite-information models without claiming a unique microscopic theory of quantum gravity.
Abstract Finite-dimensional local Hilbert spaces are widely used as microscopic regulators and have also been proposed as a fundamental information-capacity property of space-time. A finite local dimension, however, is not equivalent to a spatial lattice spacing, and neither is equivalent to a coarse-graining scale. We formulate a regulator-resolved framework that keeps these three notions separate and defines finite-information deviations operationally as the failure of microscopic and effective time evolution to commute with a specified coarse-graining channel. The resulting deviation is a state- and observable-dependent quantity in a common effective state space, rather than a formal subtraction of generators acting on different domains. We derive a decomposition into capacity, spatial-discretization, and coarse-graining contributions; a finite-time capacity bound controlled by discarded state weight and leakage through the cutoff boundary; observable error bounds; and a sharp continuity bound for subsystem entropies. We further show that block entropy and averaged one-cell entropy differ by a relative-entropy measure of total correlation and therefore cannot be interchanged. An information-geometric expansion of neighboring reduced states yields a nonlinear sigma-model effective action on the manifold of coarse-grained states. A single entropy field follows only under an additional one-dimensional closure condition. Finally, we test the framework in an exactly evolved periodic Klein--Gordon chain with independently variable lattice spacing and local number-state cutoff. Spectral peaks are extracted from dynamical matrix elements rather than imposed. Ground-state, dispersion, reduced-state, and entropy errors converge rapidly with local capacity, while the remaining lattice--continuum discrepancy persists at fixed spacing. The results provide a controlled mathematical and numerical foundation for finite-information models without claiming a unique microscopic theory of quantum gravity.
The definition of entropy in both classical and quantum contexts relies on a coarse-graining of the underlying microscopic description. While this dependence is widely acknowledged, the physical constraints that determine which coarse-grainings are admissible are rarely made explicit. This issue becomes particularly acute when the universe is treated as a closed system, where no external observer or privileged level of description can be assumed. Any characterization of entropy — including claims about the low-entropy initial conditions of the universe — must then be grounded in descriptions that can be physically instantiated from within the system itself. In this work, we introduce a rigorous operational framework that establishes explicit physical selection principles over the space of admissible descriptions. We organize these criteria into necessary conditions (local accessibility and physical implementation via internal interactions) and practical sufficiency conditions (finite resource requirements anchored in Landauer’s principle, dynamical stability, and effective consistency). To demonstrate the validity of our framework, we introduce a concrete one-dimensional spin-chain toy model, illustrating how mathematically valid global partitions fail to be physically realizable due to dynamic propagation limits and informational constraints. We analyze the far-reaching implications of this restriction across three domains. In classical statistical mechanics, it limits the arbitrariness of macrostate definitions. In quantum theory, it identifies environment-induced decoherence (einselection) not merely as a formal tool, but as the objective dynamical mechanism that forces the emergence of admissible internal partitions. In cosmology, it resolves foundational circularities in the quasi-classical histories framework and reframes the thermodynamic arrow of time as a "doubly relational" property—dependent both on cosmic boundary conditions and on the material limits of internal subsystems. Our framework clarifies the operational status of entropy as an emergent property of physically instantiated descriptions within a universe that observes itself.
Quantum field theory assigns infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces to finite spatial regions, while gravitational physics implies strict bounds on physically distinguishable states. This work introduces configuration capacity, a resolution-dependent operational measure of distinguishability defined using completely positive, trace-preserving coarse-graining channels and the trace distance. Configuration capacity quantifies the maximum number of operationally distinguishable configurations accessible to a physical system at finite resolution. It provides a conservative framework for reconciling infinite Hilbert-space structure with finite physical information without introducing new degrees of freedom or speculative microscopic assumptions. The concept is illustrated explicitly for harmonic oscillator systems, where finite experimental resolution enforces finiteness despite infinite Hilbert-space dimension. Standard entropy measures—including thermodynamic entropy, entanglement entropy, and Bekenstein–Hawking entropy—emerge as limiting cases or upper bounds under appropriate coarse-grainings. The framework further clarifies that gravitational interaction modifies unitary evolution through spacetime geometry but does not constitute a measurement, and that gravitational entropy bounds can be interpreted as ceilings on operational distinguishability rather than microscopic state multiplicity. This manuscript is intended for journal submission; the present version serves as an openly accessible preprint.
SCQG paper 19 of 28. Paper 19 develops the microscopic quantum dynamics of the Semantic Commitment / Quantum Gravity framework. It starts with finite physical carriers at the Planck regulator scale. A cell carries registrations, records or comparison data only where the corresponding systems and operations are present. A distinction becomes locally available through the forward physical action that makes it usable. Allowed local changes and their reverse partners define a self-adjoint Hamiltonian. This generator determines quantum evolution, exact sums of transition amplitudes and causal response. The microscopic clock λ is compared with metric time through an explicitly defined positive clock map. Semantic time orders the interactions through which distinctions become usable, compared or maintained. A six-state loop provides an explicit calculation of screen occupation, payload delivery and reciprocal response. Interacting finite chains show how those results change when cells exchange quantum states. The charged construction retains all 8,160 fermionic modes of its stated regulator, together with the links and boundary systems needed to enforce local Gauss constraints. Complete packet exchanges retain the transferred states, correlations and compensating flux. The paper derives exact reduced dynamics with memory and states the additional conditions for quantum channels, memoryless evolution and classical jumps. It constructs positive Euclidean reflection forms from which Hamiltonian dynamics can be recovered, and proves that local observables have well-defined limits as the support grows under the stated locality bounds. Explicit error bounds quantify the comparison between different resolutions. The final sections specify the further action, symmetry, positivity and convergence conditions needed for a relativistic continuum realization and its use by the companion papers.
Abstract This paper develops a discrete information-theoretic framework in which physical systems are modeled on a graph or lattice of locally interacting space cells. Its principal contribution is an integrated architecture separating exact consequences of locality and unitarity, continuum-limit derivations, model-family results, toy-model mechanisms, and unresolved physical mappings. Matter-like identity is treated as propagated relational information rather than persistence of the same occupied cells, and candidate mechanisms are audited for causal locality, conservation or ledger closure, and false reconstruction. The quantum branch assumes finite-dimensional local Hilbert spaces and local unitary or completely positive trace-preserving (CPTP) updates. Under those assumptions, norm preservation, finite causal cones, and reduced-state no-signaling follow directly; spinor quantum walks admit a Dirac-like long-wavelength limit and a secondary nonrelativistic Schrödinger envelope. A representative reciprocal q–χ lattice action shows how compact local dynamics can support continuity, spectral response, action-derived scattering, and internal symmetry/charge, while later extensions supply a provisional local gauge/Gauss/holonomy structure. Two geometric realizations remain deliberately distinct: distortable cells and scalar extrinsic-χ compression. Toy models provide mechanism and failure-boundary evidence for relational identity, reconstruction, scattering, photon-like bookkeeping, and topology/charge-current response. The framework does not derive the Standard Model, quantum field theory, or general relativity; it defines a falsifiable program for testing whether compact local information-processing laws can recover required low-energy structures without hidden nonlocal repair or post-hoc tuning.
This report develops the mathematical spine of a discrete information-theoretic space-cell framework. A finite region of the substrate is represented by a tensor product of local Hilbert spaces over a graph or cell complex. Closed dynamics are modeled by finite-depth circuits of bounded-range unitary gates; open-system, measurement-inclusive, or coarse-grained dynamics are represented by local completely positive trace-preserving maps. Under these assumptions, norm or trace preservation is exact, local observables acquire support only inside finite update cones, and unconditional local statistics are invariant under distant trace-preserving operations. A one-dimensional symmetric split-step quantum walk is used as an explicit baseline. Selecting a quasienergy branch of its finite-step update operator defines an effective Hamiltonian. In the long-wavelength, small-step regime, the leading generator has Dirac form, with the cell spacing and update interval fixing an effective propagation speed and the local component-mixing angle fixing a mass scale. The Schrödinger equation is then obtained as a secondary positive-energy, low-momentum envelope approximation after factoring out the rest-energy phase. This hierarchy prevents the discrete update, Dirac continuum regime, and nonrelativistic Schrödinger regime from being treated as equivalent claims. The report also proves reduced-state no-signaling for local trace-preserving operations, states the corresponding probability-level result for local POVMs, and shows how Bell/CHSH correlations can coexist with no controllable superluminal communication. Entanglement is interpreted as distributed nonfactorization generated by local interaction history, not as measurement-time signaling. The report closes with explicit proof obligations: Born-rule and measurement derivation, interacting relativistic fields, spin-statistics, gauge structure, curved geometry, exact or experimentally bounded Lorentz recovery, local conservation beyond global norm, and the causal safety of χ or deformation variables.
This preprint develops a discrete, fully relational framework in which spacetime structure, classical dynamics, and quantum-like behavior emerge from three minimal principles: relational existence without background manifold, local deterministic update, and finite per-element update capacity. The central organizing primitive is finite update capacity. At each update step, elements can realise only a bounded number of relational changes. Competition among admissible updates induces “blocked realisations,” which are defined micro-ontologically as energy. Proper time is identified with realised record growth. Spatial distance and effective dimension arise from intrinsic graph structure and shell scaling. Under broad locality conditions, marginal frontier stability constrains viable scaling regimes. Requiring compatibility between flux balance and the observed inverse–square law selects an effective three-dimensional scaling regime among integers. Classical force structure emerges from anisotropies in blocked realisation. A statistical layer appears through coarse-graining of deterministic microhistories. Composition and norm stability require unit-modulus complex weights; refinement invariance and classical coherence fix the phase rule θ=ℏ−1∫Edτ, with the same blocking-defined energy that generates intrinsic force. In decohered regimes, quadratic (Born-type) probability scaling follows from additive consistency under random-phase aggregation. The framework is programmatic: it does not yet derive general relativity or quantum field theory from explicit microscopic rule families. However, it establishes structural coherence linking geometry, inertia, inverse–square interaction, phase accumulation, and probabilistic outcomes under a single finite-capacity relational principle. The work also identifies structural empirical constraints, including compatibility between shell scaling and classical force behavior, stability of inertial response, and the possible appearance of capacity-induced high-energy dispersion within the intrinsic causal-cone bound. Explicit construction and simulation of proposal/selection rule families constitute the next stage of investigation.