Physical Sovereignty and Thermodynamic Tariffs: A Hierarchical Physical Compliance Architecture (HPCA) for AI-Era Regulatory Deviation

This paper introduces the Hierarchical Physical Compliance Architecture (HPCA) and the Thermodynamic-Efficiency-Ratio (ΔETR) functional to address the regulatory deviation gap exposed by AGI-era capabilities operating on nanosecond timescales that outpace microsecond-to-millisecond software-defined perimeters (SDP). Building on empirical validation gaps (Palisade 79/100 safety score; xAI 97% harm recurrence) and physical limits including Landauer bound, 220 GHz non-linear loss cliff, and 2,500 kW aggregate datacenter power, the framework proposes three integrated contributions: (1) a taxonomy of five regulatory deviations (Logic Override, Temporal Race, Thermal Carbon Footprint, Material Embedded Carbon, Epistemic Forgery) aligned with CBAM definitive phase and EU AI Act Article 14; (2) the three-layer HPCA mapping software, physical-layer geometric offload, and hardware interlock with non-Markovian biological phase operators; (3) PINN-based digital-twin validation demonstrating ΔETR breach at t≈1.2 ms under pure-DSP baselines. The architecture establishes physical-layer auditability as a thermodynamically enforceable substrate for sovereign AI governance.