Absolute Simultaneity Theory. A Medium-Based Framework for Relativistic Kinematics and Quantum Nonlocality

AbstractLoophole-free Bell experiments have conclusively demonstrated that non-local correlations are a fundamental property of physical reality. Within the Minkowskian framework of Special Relativity (SRT), the relativity of simultaneity renders the temporal ordering of spacelike-separated events inherently frame-dependent. This creates a conceptual inconsistency for any ontologically realist interpretation of quantum mechanics: if measurement outcomes correspond to objective physical events, then the absence of a preferred foliation leads unavoidably to contradictory causal histories or retrocausal influences. In this work, we formulate a Conditional No-Go Theorem showing that Ontological Realism, Linear Causality, and Fundamental Lorentz Invariance cannot all hold simultaneously. Preserving a coherent causal structure therefore requires relinquishing Lorentz invariance as a primitive spacetime symmetry. We propose Absolute Simultaneity Theory (AST), a framework in which Lorentz covariance emerges thermodynamically from a quantum vacuum treated as a structured medium in equilibrium. Drawing on analogies with condensed-matter systems—particularly Volovik’s superfluid vacuum paradigm—we show that a preferred rest frame, plausibly identified with the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) frame, is fully compatible with the empirical success of SRT. In AST, local Lorentz symmetry arises as a stability condition of the underlying vacuum dynamics rather than as a fundamental geometric postulate. This reconceptualization allows quantum non-locality and relativistic kinematics to coexist within a unified, time-ordered ontology.