Institute of Integrative and Interdisciplinary Research

Cosmology and Theoretical Physics

This program addresses foundational questions in the large-scale structure of the universe, the emergence of spacetime and time, and the reconciliation of quantum and gravitational principles. It explores information-theoretic derivations of temporal asymmetry, cyclical hierarchical ontologies as alternatives to well-founded structures, emergent spacetime from entanglement and mutual information, scale-dependent constants in resolving cosmological tensions, primordial black holes as high-redshift seeds, and the limits of foundationalist explanations in quantum cosmology and beyond.

The research questions below outline the current frontier problems pursued within this framework. The accompanying reference collection integrates key literature with ongoing contributions developed at the Institute.

Research Questions: Cosmology and Theoretical Physics

  • If temporal experience emerges from irreversible information processing in neural systems analogous to quantum decoherence, what predictions follow for the relationship between entropy production in the brain and subjective time perception, and how might disorders of time perception inform or challenge such models?
  • Can the arrow of time be derived from information-theoretic principles without presupposing temporal asymmetry in the underlying physics, and if so, how does the entropic bias parameter scale across physical regimes from laboratory to cosmological scales?
  • Under what formal conditions does the existence of fixed points in cyclical hierarchical systems provide genuine ontological alternatives to well-founded structures, and what additional criteria beyond logical consistency must be satisfied for such structures to constitute viable metaphysical possibilities?
  • How can mutual-information-based distance metrics be reconciled with empirical Lorentzian structure, and what observational signatures would distinguish emergent spacetime models from theories in which spacetime is fundamental?
  • To what extent do autopoietic and metabolically closed biological systems instantiate the formal properties of cyclical hierarchies, and what methodological implications follow for the debate between reductionist and holistic explanations in biology?
  • If AI systems achieve cyclical mutual constitution through recursive refinement, how should alignment frameworks, interpretability methods, and legal attribution of responsibility be reconceptualized for architectures where foundational questions about origins become inapplicable?
  • Can the Hubble tension be resolved by models incorporating scale-dependent fundamental constants, and how would such resolution interact with or constrain evidence for dynamical dark energy and phantom crossing behavior?
  • What are the experimental bounds on reversing decoherence in multi-qubit systems, and can NISQ devices provide precision tests of irreversibility predictions derived from emergent time models?
  • How should non-trivial first homology in the encoding of hierarchical structures be interpreted ontologically, and does topological essential cyclicity provide a formal criterion for distinguishing genuine mutual dependence from merely apparent circularity?
  • Can primordial black holes formed in the early universe account for the anomalously massive, metal-poor black holes observed at high redshift, and what signatures in gravitational wave backgrounds or cosmic microwave background distortions would confirm or falsify this hypothesis?
  • Does the holistic character of entangled quantum systems—where subsystem properties are determined by correlations rather than intrinsic features—provide a model for non-foundationalist explanation, and if so, what are the limits of this analogy when extended to macroscopic or social systems?
  • Is it mathematically possible for simulated universes to be computationally equivalent to their simulators in a closed loop, and what role does computational irreducibility play in constraining or enabling such mutual simulation scenarios?

Publications