The Entropic Universe II: Space, Time, Branching, and the Low-Entropy Past from a Single Scalar Line

Version 5 (March 19, 2026) This companion paper (EUT II) provides the minimal pre-geometric foundation for the Entropic Universe Theory originally formulated as an effective field theory in EUT I (Zenodo DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17528477). We show that the entirety of observable physics - three spatial dimensions, the metric, the arrow of time and finite propagation speed, retrocausal weak values, many-worlds branching, objective decoherence, the Born rule, the observed speed of light \(c\), Newton’s constant \(G\), black-hole entropy, and the low-entropy initial condition (Past Hypothesis) - emerges from a single one-dimensional bare lattice of scalar entropy-density values \(\{S_i\}\) whose bonds are stiffened or softened by a temperature field \(T\). No extra dimensions, no fundamental metric, no prior spacetime, and (after fixing one overall energy scale at the Planckian epoch) no fine-tuned dimensionless parameters are postulated. Every previously exploratory element of EUT I is now an unavoidable consequence of one simple principle: entropy minimization resists gradients, with temperature modulating the rigidity. **Version 4** adds a new Appendix A that formalizes the emergent geometry as an atlas of local observer charts with adaptive local rigidity and explicit separation of spatial and primordial layers. These clarifications ensure local texture consistency under standard statistical tests (second-order stationarity, Markov random fields, spectral convergence) while leaving every equation, prediction, and numerical result unchanged. **Version 5** adds a new Appendix B that clarifies why the pre-geometric starting point is referred to as a “one-dimensional” bare index set while remaining maximally agnostic about prior geometry. It explains that the indices carry no intrinsic ordering, metric, locality, or topology whatsoever, and that the linear labeling is retained only for notational convenience and to enable temporal stacking. These clarifications make the radical minimality of the ontology immediately transparent to the reader while leaving every equation, prediction, and numerical result unchanged. The resulting theory remains fully falsifiable in the laboratory via the same YIG-based experiments proposed in EUT I, making this one of the most stringently testable candidate quantum-gravity frameworks currently available. Abstract We present a minimal pre-geometric ontology for the Entropic Universe Theory (EUT) introduced in EUT I. The entirety of observable physics - three spatial dimensions, the metric, the arrow of time and finite propagation speed, retrocausal weak values, many-worlds branching, objective decoherence, the Born rule, the observed speed of light \(c\), Newton’s constant \(G\), black-hole entropy, and the low-entropy initial condition (Past Hypothesis) - emerges from a single one-dimensional lattice of scalar entropy-density values \(\{S_i\}\) equipped with all-to-all entropic connections and temperature-tuned stacking. No extra dimensions, no fundamental metric, no prior spacetime, and (after fixing one overall energy scale at the Planckian epoch) no fine-tuned dimensionless parameters are postulated. All previously exploratory elements of EUT I are now unavoidable consequences of one principle: entropy minimization resists gradients, with temperature modulating the rigidity.Note Correction for Reference 9: Pardo, K. (2020). Testing emergent gravity with isolated dwarf galaxies. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2020(12), 012. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2020/12/012 Correction for Reference 20: de Groot, S. R., and P. Mazur. (1962) 2012. Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 9780486153506