Field Quanta Unified Framework: A Local Realist Foundation for Quantum Mechanics and Gravity from a Single Nearest-Neighbor Attraction Rule

We propose a fully local realist unified physical framework derived entirely from a single minimal underlying rule: space is filled with discrete ground-state field quanta, whose sole dynamical property is nearest-neighbor attraction proportional to the product of their excitation levels, with strictly conserved total excitation across all space.

 

This rule is not an ad hoc postulate, but a distillation of a universal physical tendency observed across all scales—spontaneous attraction between adjacent entities, structurally isomorphic to van der Waals forces, nuclear binding, the Casimir effect, and Bose–Einstein condensation. From this single rule, we derive the following core consequences forward, with no reverse-engineering:

 

 

This framework is fully compatible with all existing experimental observations of standard quantum mechanics and general relativity, while making three falsifiable, qualitatively distinct predictions. The central prediction—a sharp threshold step in interference visibility versus path-marking coupling—is testable with existing quantum optics equipment. We do not claim to replace established theories, but offer a minimal, self-consistent, falsifiable alternative local realist picture.