What It Is — And What It Isn't
A Guide to Reading This Work
This project is an experiment in speculative physics as public art.
It presents a theoretical framework — "emergent gravity from quantum decoherence" — using the visual and narrative language of sacred geometry, museum exhibition, and philosophical inquiry. The aesthetic choices are deliberate: they invite contemplation and make abstract ideas emotionally accessible.
But aesthetic invitation is not scientific evidence. The gold colors, geometric patterns, and evocative language are artistic framing, not endorsements of the physics. The framework stands or falls on its mathematical structure and empirical predictions — not on how beautiful the website looks.
Throughout this site, we maintain a strict separation between:
When you see poetic language, it is clearly labeled. When you see physics, it is stated precisely. The boundary is never blurred.
An explicit statement about what you are reading.
This framework is internally consistent, mathematically well-defined, and experimentally falsifiable. It is also unproven, incomplete, and may be wrong.
This is the correct posture of serious theoretical exploration.
The content is structured in layers. Choose your depth.
Plain-language narratives and visual metaphors. No equations. No jargon. Start here if you're curious but not a physicist.
Example: "Imagine the universe is constantly 'watching' matter — and gravity is what happens when matter adjusts to being watched."
Conceptual physics with key terms defined. Some notation, but always explained. For readers with high-school physics or general science literacy.
Example: "Decoherence — the process by which quantum superpositions become classical — is mathematically equivalent to continuous measurement. The 'Bath' is a quantum environment that performs this measurement."
Full mathematical formalism. Standard notation. Explicit assumptions. Written as a draft preprint suitable for arxiv. No metaphor.
Evocative analogy
Explained ideas
Unverified claim
Known physics
Aesthetic framing
Key terms explained without jargon.
What it is: A hypothetical quantum "environment" that surrounds all matter. Think of it like an ocean that everything floats in — you can't see it directly, but you can feel its effects.
Technical: A large-N quantum field theory in its vacuum state, traced out to yield reduced dynamics on matter.
What it is: The process that makes quantum weirdness (like being in two places at once) disappear at everyday scales. It's why cats are either alive or dead, not both.
Technical: Suppression of off-diagonal density matrix elements through environmental interaction.
What it is: A fancy way of saying "shape-changing without volume-changing." Like squishing a ball sideways — it gets wider but not bigger overall.
Technical: The projection of a tensor removing trace and longitudinal components; the only propagating gravitational degrees of freedom.
What it is: A mathematical object that describes where energy and momentum are located and how they're flowing. It's the "source" of gravity in Einstein's equations.
Technical: Tμν — the conserved Noether current associated with spacetime translation symmetry.
What it is: The fundamental equation describing how quantum systems evolve when they interact with an environment. It's the mathematical backbone of decoherence.
Technical: dρ/dt = -i[H,ρ] + Σ(LρL† - ½{L†L,ρ})
What it is: A close cousin of Einstein's gravity that naturally ignores vacuum energy. It might explain why empty space doesn't weigh anything despite quantum field theory saying it should.
Technical: GR with det(g) = const constraint; trace-free field equations where Λ emerges as integration constant.
What it is: When measuring something changes it. Here, the Bath "measures" matter, which would heat it up — unless there's a compensating force. That force is gravity.
Technical: Wiseman-Milburn measurement-feedback equivalence; the retarded Green's function yields deterministic back-action.
What it is: Something that arises from simpler ingredients but wasn't put in by hand. Temperature "emerges" from atoms bouncing around. Here, gravity "emerges" from decoherence.
Technical: A macroscopic phenomenon derivable from microscopic dynamics without being a fundamental input.