Towards a Unified Physics Framework Based on Causal Integrated Information: A Research Programme (Version 3: Supplementary and Extended Revised Edition)

Abstract Background: The equivalence between information and energy has been verified by Landauer's principle, but the quantitative law and directional coupling mechanism between integrated information and mass-energy have not been clearly defined. In the previously published 3rd preprint, the author originally proposed the core conjecture of "mass-energy increment induced by information coupling", which lacks mathematical quantification and self-consistent explanation of energy conservation. Purpose: Based on the author’s original core ideas, to construct a quantitative theoretical framework of integrated information and mass-energy transfer, improve the self-consistency of energy conservation, propose a feasible tabletop verification experiment, and extend the cosmological application scenarios of the theory. Methods: Combined with Integrated Information Theory (IIT), Shannon's Information Theory, Landauer's Principle and Mass-Energy Equivalence, the core formula of mass-energy transfer is derived based on the author’s original mechanism of "directional coupling between active information system and solid-state target system"; a controlled experiment is designed based on existing precision measurement technology to verify the core prediction of the theory. Results: The rigorous mathematical expressions of the mass-energy equivalent of integrated information and the mass-energy transfer induced by coupling are obtained, the directional transfer nature of mass-energy increment is clarified, and the core dispute of energy conservation is solved; the designed experiment can be realized by FPGA array and nano-mass sensor to verify the core prediction; the theory can be naturally extended to the explanation of black hole physics and dark energy. Conclusion: The improved theory in this paper upgrades the author’s original qualitative conjecture into a falsifiable physical hypothesis in line with academic norms, which is compatible with the existing physical framework, and provides a unified new explanatory perspective for the core problems of fundamental physics, such as quantum observer effect, black hole information paradox and dark energy, and has the feasibility of experimental verification.