The Decoherence Bottleneck: The Origin of the Speed of Light via Vacuum Dark Energy Domains and Quantum Information Limits

In modern physics, the speed of light (c) is treated as an a priori constant, while its exact value (299, 792, 458 m/s) lacks a dynamical explanation. Building upon our previous framework [1], which models the vacuum as an active medium rendering mass via quantum decoherence, this paper proposes that c is the absolute computational limit of the vacuum. By applying Heisenberg’s energytime uncertainty principle and the Margolus-Levitin theorem to the baseline dark energy scale, we derive the Decoherence Bottleneck" equation. We robustly address critical contentions regarding Lorentz invariance (photon energy independence) and the informational interpretation of quantum fluctuations. Ultimately, we establish a falsifiable framework: if future sub-millimeter cosmological observations independently verify the vacuum’s fundamental domain scale (≈ 0.086 mm), it will prove that the speed of light is not an arbitrary geometric axiom, but an emergent hardware limit of quantum information processing.