What question did this study set out to answer?

The research aims to redefine time as an emergent property arising from localized energetic interactions rather than a fundamental aspect of reality.

April 16, 2026Open Access

Time Exists Only in Ripples

Key Points

The research aims to redefine time as an emergent property arising from localized energetic interactions rather than a fundamental aspect of reality.
Develop a conceptual framework based on thermodynamic principles.
Analyze the role of observation as an energetic interaction.
Introduce the idea of temporally coherent structures called 'ripples'.
Time is proposed to exist only within temporally coherent ripples.
Causality and temporal ordering are shown to be features of these localized structures.
The framework challenges the necessity of a global time or first interaction.

Abstract

This work proposes a conceptual framework in which time is not a global or fundamental property of reality, but an emergent feature of localized energetic interaction. Observation is treated not as a passive act, but as an energetic interaction that obeys the laws of thermodynamics. Within an infinite, non-temporal context, temporally coherent structures called “ripples” arise, and time exists only within these structures. The framework rejects the need for a “first interaction” or global time, arguing that causality and temporal ordering are internal features of these localized ripples.

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