Threshold Information Loss Hypothesis

What’s the big idea?

This paper proposes something bold: that the mysterious way quantum systems become classical — that is, how the weird rules of quantum mechanics “collapse” into the normal world we experience — happens not because we observe them, but because they reach a threshold where they start losing information.

This information loss isn’t just philosophical — it’s real, physical, and measurable. Just like a leaky bucket, when a quantum system interacts with its environment too much or becomes too “complex,” it starts losing track of its own possibilities. And once enough information leaks out, the system can no longer stay in a quantum state — it snaps into a single, definite state. That’s what we call the quantum-to-classical transition.

What is this trying to fix?

Physics has a long-standing mystery:
Why do atoms and particles act like waves, capable of being in many places at once — but only until we measure them?

Standard theories like decoherence (Like when a quantum particle gets “bumped” by its surroundings so much that it can no longer stay in multiple states at once — kind of like smudging a pencil drawing until the lines disappear.) explain part of it, but don’t fully tell us why the system picks just one outcome. This hypothesis tries to close that gap by proposing a specific threshold mechanism: collapse happens when enough information has been lost — not just when we look.

How does it work?

• Quantum systems (like particles or atoms) carry a limited amount of information about all their possible outcomes.
• As they evolve, interact, and entangle with the environment, they leak this information — just like a file being copied too many times gets blurry.
• Once enough of that information is lost — beyond a certain threshold — the system can no longer maintain its quantum nature.
• At that point, it collapses into one classical outcome. Not because someone measured it, but because the quantum structure failed under entropy.

What’s different about this idea?

Instead of saying “measurement causes collapse” or that “consciousness causes collapse,” this theory says:

Collapse is an inevitable consequence of information loss. It’s physical, testable, and independent of any observer.

Are there equations?

Yes, but you don’t need to know them to grasp the point. They describe:

• How quickly information degrades in a system
• How that relates to entropy (a fancy word for disorder or uncertainty)
• How big or complex a system can be before collapse is guaranteed
• How this model could be tested in experiments — like with photons in isolated environments

Why should anyone care?

Because this might finally bridge the gap between the two worlds of physics: the quantum (weird, tiny) and the classical (familiar, big).

It also proposes real, physical mechanisms behind quantum collapse — no hand-waving, no mysticism.

And if it’s right?
It changes how we see measurement, observation, reality, and the very foundation of physics. It also opens the door to exploring what role information plays in shaping the physical world.

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