Interference-First Reality Theory: Temporal Order and Semiclassical Limits —Emergent Time, the Arrow of Time, and the Recovery of General Relativity [IFR Theory Series, Part III of VI]
This is Part III of the six-part series presenting the Interference-First Reality (IFR) Theory. Part I established the kinematic foundations and the definition of objectivity; Part II supplied the variational principle and the gravitational sector. The present part derives what both left open: physical time. We develop the emergence of temporal order as the ordered succession of stable minima of redundant dispersion, and we show that the arrow of time need not be posited separately—it follows from a single, explicitly stated dynamical hypothesis, the monotonic decrease of the redundant dispersion along admissible histories (objectivizing dynamics), which identifies D red as a Lyapunov functional and makes the high-redundancy regime a dynamical attractor (dynamic classicalization). We prove that this hypothesis is not implied by the second-order interference equation of Part II, which conserves the interference energy, and we state what supplies it. From the same monotonicity, together with the requirement that admissible histories be generated forward in the ordering parameter, we derive three consequences that fix the operational content of emergent time: no admissible protocol delivers a decodable determination to an earlier stage of an objective history; recurrence of an objective structure is not reversal, since informational duration is strictly positive on any non-constant closed excursion; and a closed timelike curve of the emergent metric, if it is the image of an admissible history, does not close the informational order: its endpoints are distinct, strictly ordered stages of the history, which may carry the same objective centre. We then establish the semiclassical and effective-field limits in which general relativity and quantum theory are recovered, deriving from the same attractor, with an explicit rate, the reduction step ℛ Γ → ℛ ℰ ( R ) of the curvature correspondence of Part II and the vanishing of the correction Lagrangian.
This is Part III of the six-part series presenting the Interference-First Reality (IFR) Theory. Part I established the kinematic foundations and the definition of objectivity; Part II supplied the variational principle and the gravitational sector. The present part derives what both left open: physical time. We develop the emergence of temporal order as the ordered succession of stable minima of redundant dispersion, and we show that the arrow of time need not be posited separately—it follows from a single, explicitly stated dynamical hypothesis, the monotonic decrease of the redundant dispersion along admissible histories (objectivizing dynamics), which identifies D red as a Lyapunov functional and makes the high-redundancy regime a dynamical attractor (dynamic classicalization). We prove that this hypothesis is not implied by the second-order interference equation of Part II, which conserves the interference energy, and we state what supplies it. From the same monotonicity, together with the requirement that admissible histories be generated forward in the ordering parameter, we derive three consequences that fix the operational content of emergent time: no admissible protocol delivers a decodable determination to an earlier stage of an objective history; recurrence of an objective structure is not reversal, since informational duration is strictly positive on any non-constant closed excursion; and a closed timelike curve of the emergent metric, if it is the image of an admissible history, does not close the informational order: its endpoints are distinct, strictly ordered stages of the history, which may carry the same objective centre. We then establish the semiclassical and effective-field limits in which general relativity and quantum theory are recovered, deriving from the same attractor, with an explicit rate, the reduction step ℛ Γ → ℛ ℰ ( R ) of the curvature correspondence of Part II and the vanishing of the correction Lagrangian.
We introduce Interference-First Reality (IFR), a theoretical framework in which physical objectivity is not assumed as a primitive property of the world, but is derived as a stable multi-observer limit of an underlying interference structure. The fundamental object of the theory is a pre-spatiotemporal interference state Ψ defined on an abstract configuration space X, together with a family of operational observer maps projecting Ψ into observer-accessible representation spaces. Agreement between observers is quantified by an information-geometric redundant dispersion functional. Within IFR, objective structures are defined as stable Fréchet-type centers of observer projections, and physical configurations are selected by a variational principle involving interference dynamics, informational curvature, and redundant multi-observer contraction. The parameter λ is not identified with physical time. Instead, temporal order is defined as the ordered succession of stable minima of redundant dispersion, while effective spacetime geometry arises when the underlying information geometry admits a low-dimensional metric representation. The framework derives objectivity, time, space, and gravitation from a single variational structure. Contents of this deposit. Alongside the complete-formulation preprint, the archive contains the consolidated information-geometry module ifr_core, implementing Jensen–Shannon divergence and distance, geometric and arithmetic barycenters, and the redundant-dispersion functional, together with its verification routines, the full set of analysis scripts, and self-configuring ready-to-run launcher packages for Windows, macOS, and a flat code archive. The ifr_core module is byte-identical across all packages and hash-verified, and reproduces all reported JSD/KL values with a maximum numerical discrepancy below 1e-13. The packages are strictly code-only. Data directories contain only .gitkeep or README.md placeholders, and the public re-downloadable datasets used in the analyses, including Planck, GWOSC, JWST/JADES, and PhysioNet, are intentionally excluded from the deposit. Citation. The Concept DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20528552 is the stable DOI to be used for citation and resolves to the most recent version. Each deposit mints a version DOI for archival versioning only; version DOIs should not be used in manuscripts. Peer-reviewed publication. This document is the complete and unified formulation of the IFR framework, subdivided into six parts for peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics (JAMP). The empirical validation referenced here has been published in Bianchi (2025), JAMP 13, 4355–4378, and Bianchi (2026), JAMP 14, 1627–1674. Part I of the series has been published as Bianchi, M. (2026) Interference-First Reality Theory: Foundations and Objectivity, JAMP 14(7), 2735–2772, DOI 10.4236/jamp.2026.147137. Part II is under peer review; Parts III–VI are in preparation for sequential submission.
This project collects all research materials related to the Interference-First Reality (IFR) framework, a variational information-geometric theory in which physical objectivity, spacetime, time, and gravitation are derived as emergent structures from a pre-spatiotemporal interference state. The project includes the complete theoretical formulation, peer-reviewed publications, empirical validation code, and datasets. Published: Part I, JAMP 14(7), 2735-2772, DOI 10.4236/jamp.2026.147137; Part II, JAMP 14(9), 3571-3618, DOI 10.4236/jamp.2026.149178; Part III, JAMP 14(10), 4234-4278, DOI 10.4236/jamp.2026.1410206. Parts IV–VI in preparation.
We develop an effective gravitational framework for the quantum–classical transition based on the dynamical stability of historical information. Building on previous analyses of gravitational temporal decoherence and the emergence of classical time, the present work addresses the subsequent problem of how classical histories become stable, persistent, and objectively accessible. The framework is formulated as a non-relativistic, semiclassical open-system dynamics in which gravity induces structurally constrained dissipative effects of Lindblad type. Within this setting, we introduce a stability functional that operationally characterizes which quantum states can support robust historical records and which are dynamically suppressed. The quantum–classical transition is described as a smooth, scale-dependent crossover controlled by physically meaningful parameters, rather than as a sharp boundary or interpretational postulate. The emergence of a unique classical past is shown to arise from dynamical selection: while multiple quantum histories are formally allowed, only those supported by stable physical records persist under gravitationally induced dissipation. The framework is explicitly effective in scope and does not rely on a microscopic derivation or full relativistic covariance. Instead, it identifies universal structural features that any viable fundamental theory must reproduce in the appropriate semiclassical regime. This work complements earlier studies on the emergence of classical time by providing a dynamical account of historical stability, thereby contributing to a coherent program for understanding the physical origin of classical reality.
Collapse-Induced Time Asymmetry and the Emergence of Classical Reality proposes a collapse-driven framework in which the emergence of classical definiteness and the arrow of time arise from the same underlying physical mechanism. Wavefunction collapse is treated as an intrinsic, irreversible process that progressively restricts the space of admissible quantum states, generating both temporal order and classical structure without reliance on observers, special boundary conditions, or externally imposed time asymmetry. The central contribution of this work is the introduction of an emergent collapse-ordering parameter, distinct from coordinate time, which indexes irreversible collapse events and provides a microscopic foundation for temporal asymmetry. Within this framework, stochastic localization resolves quantum indeterminacy, stabilizes macroscopic outcomes, and yields definite mass–energy configurations from which classical spacetime structure can emerge. Gravitational self-energy is reinterpreted not as the cause of collapse, but as a diagnostic of the energetic incompatibility between unrealized quantum alternatives. Collapse dynamics, entropy production, and geometric structure are shown to be mutually consistent aspects of a single irreversible process. The resulting picture unifies measurement resolution, the arrow of time, and classical emergence within a single collapse-based dynamical framework. This paper focuses on the theoretical structure and internal consistency of the proposed mechanism. A separate, accompanying repository paper will present proof-of-principle numerical simulations exploring collapse-driven information pruning, history-dependent backreaction, and emergent geometric behavior. These simulations are intended to illustrate qualitative features of the framework and to demonstrate dynamical stability and repeatability, rather than to provide quantitative gravitational modeling. Together, the theoretical analysis and forthcoming simulation results aim to clarify the physical role of collapse in the emergence of classical reality and temporal order.A companion repository containing proof-of-principle numerical simulations is available at Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.18828923