First-Principles Topological Derivation of the Speed of Light and the Laws of Thermodynamics A Generative Digital Universe Model (GDUM)

Within the Generative Digital Universe Model (GDUM) framework, we investigate the emergence of the vacuum speed of light c and the four laws of thermodynamics from pre-geometric topological axioms. The theory operates under strict ontological separation via the irreversible readout functor ρ: topological objects belong to Layer-1 pre-geometry, while measurable spacetime quantities are emergent Layer-2 representational outputs after projection-readout. We adopt a set of foundational postulates, split into ontological-mathematical axioms and additional model-calibration ansätze. In this framework, c is interpreted both as a definitional unit-conversion coefficient c≡ℓ_P/t_P and as an emergent critical topological velocity within four-dimensional projected spacetime. Photons correspond to the topological ground-state boundary condition W°_K=1, giving v_γ=c. The electron effective projection efficiency is set by model ansatz α = 1/(2πW°_K), yielding v_e/c = 2πα ≈ 0.0458. The numerical self-consistency chain uses the historical ansatz value W°_K ≈ 21.8103; this W°_K is strictly distinct from the pre-geometric winding W_K used in the companion GDUM Discussion manuscript. All four laws of thermodynamics are constructed from the evolution of the topological Hilbert space H_top within the framework: zeroth law from winding-exchange steady states; first law from topological functional conservation; second law from intrinsic topological decoherence for subsystem states; third law from topological constraints forbidding strict T=0. We write a formal unified topological action, noting that fully explicit forms for L_geom, L_exc remain among open research tasks. At the present revision, the work provides internal numerical self-consistency but does not yet supply novel independent experimental predictions beyond reproducing known established physics.