Quantum mechanics is re-expressed as a pre-probabilistic theory of complex-valued potentiality measures, with the Born rule as the nonlinear bridge to ordinary probabilities.
Actualization, Records, and the Emergence of Entropic Time
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abstract
We develop a record-based account of internal time in quantum mechanics, where the formation of a stable record is represented as conditioning on actualized information, and along a history the accumulated record algebras are ordered by inclusion. If the duration of a realized outcome depends only on its conditional Born probability, composes additively under sequential conditioning, and is continuous and calibrated, then the actualization of each outcome contributes an internal duration equal to its surprisal, the negative logarithm of that probability, so that a certain outcome contributes no duration, whereas less likely outcomes contribute larger increments. The ensemble mean of the accumulated clock is the Shannon entropy of the record process, its moment-generating function is fixed by the R\'enyi entropy spectrum, and the realized clock admits a Doob decomposition into a predictable entropic compensator and a martingale of clock fluctuations, so that each increment is the information gain of the corresponding actualization. Records are characterized by graded criteria of distinguishability, decoherence, and stability. We also clarify the multiple-clock problem: in one fixed context, additivity of two surprisal clocks is equivalent to factorization of the Born distribution in that context, whereas for a pure bipartite state, additivity in every pair of local contexts is equivalent to rank-one factorization of the joint state and to the vanishing of all its $2\times2$ minors.
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The Physics of Unresolved Uncertainty: Quantum Mechanics as a Theory of Potentiality
Quantum mechanics is re-expressed as a pre-probabilistic theory of complex-valued potentiality measures, with the Born rule as the nonlinear bridge to ordinary probabilities.