The QVP-G/IRN Framework: From Polarization Fields to Decoherence and Fermion Masses

We present a unified and mathematically complete treatment of the Quantum Vacuum Polarization Gravity (QVP-G) framework in which a single scalar polarization field P(x), encoding the state of an underlying Information Resonance Network (IRN) medium, is responsible for modified gravitational dynamics, the quantum–classical transition, and potentially the fermion mass and flavour structure of the Standard Model. This work integrates and extends three previously separate manuscripts into one coherent presentation with complete derivations, rigorous dimensional analysis, and explicit control of all approximations.

First, we establish the classical dynamics of the polarization field P(x) coupled to the baryonic mass density ρ_b(x), including a careful derivation of the Yukawa Green’s function, the static solutions for δP(x), and the associated polarization energy functional E_P[ρ_b]. We show in detail how the macroscopic polarization energy can be written as a bilinear functional of the mass-density distribution, closely analogous to the Newtonian gravitational self-energy but mediated by a finite-range Yukawa kernel.

Second, we promote fluctuations of the P-field to a quantum environment in the sense of open quantum systems. Using the Feynman–Vernon influence functional formalism for a Gaussian bosonic environment linearly coupled to the mass-density operator, we derive an IRN-induced decoherence rate for macroscopic superpositions of mass distributions. In the quasi-static Markovian limit we obtain the central result
Γ_IRN ≃ ξ E_P[Δρ]/ℏ,
where E_P[Δρ] is the polarization energy functional evaluated on the mass-density difference between the branches of the superposition and ξ is a dimensionless parameter fixed by IRN microphysics. In the long-range limit of the interaction we explicitly show that E_P[Δρ] reduces to the gravitational self-energy |E_G[Δρ]|, thereby recovering a Diósi–Penrose-type scaling Γ ∝ |E_G|/ℏ as a derived relation rather than a phenomenological postulate.

Third, we provide a detailed and fully worked-out interpretation of measurement and the double-slit experiment in the IRN picture. Quantum states are reinterpreted as correlated configurations of baryonic matter and the polarization field; interference and the Born rule emerge from coherent IRN patterns, while measurement corresponds to stochastic IRN branching into macroscopically distinct polarization configurations. We discuss how which-path detection, detector back-reaction, and environmental couplings suppress interference through the same IRN-induced decoherence mechanism derived from the influence functional.

Finally, we extend the IRN framework to the Standard-Model Yukawa sector. Fermion masses and flavour are reparametrized as emergent polarization defect energies associated with localized distortions of the IRN medium, subject to constraints from equivalence principle tests, fifth-force bounds, and flavour physics. We implement a Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) structure to control flavour-changing neutral currents and show how the effective low-energy Yukawa couplings can be matched to underlying IRN parameters without violating current experimental limits. Stability, causality (subluminal sound speed), and effective field theory validity are analyzed in detail, and the parameter space consistent with both gravitational phenomenology and quantum experiments is delineated.

We conclude by comparing the QVP-G/IRN framework to leading collapse and decoherence models such as the Diósi–Penrose proposal and Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL), highlighting both conceptual and phenomenological differences, and by outlining concrete experimental tests and observational signatures that can distinguish the IRN-induced decoherence channel from purely phenomenological collapse models.

This preprint is part of a coordinated series on Quantum Vacuum Polarization Gravity (QVP-G) and the Information Resonance Network (IRN), including: (i) the core QVP-G effective field theory unifying dark matter and dark energy; (ii) cosmological background evolution and linear perturbations with Boltzmann-code implementation; (iii) microscopic QVP-G (mQVP-G) and gravitational “chemistry”; and (iv) the present IRN completion, which links macroscopic modified gravity, decoherence and quantum foundations, and fermion mass phenomenology in a single framework.

The author gratefully acknowledges the use of a novel multi-agent artificial intelligence system based on iterative Socratic dialogue as a conceptual support tool in the  development of this work.