Physics Without Causation: A Constraint-Based Framework for Fundamental Physics

We propose that causation does not exist in the physical worldbut explanationdoes. Our framework distinguishes two structures often conated: derivation (the-orems follow from axioms) and causation (events produce other events). Physicsretains the former while eliminating the latter. Beginning from constraint axiomsempirically discovered structures that cannot themselves be derivedwe show thatapparent causal claims become theorems: synchronization, phase transitions, andmeasurement outcomes are derivable from constraint geometry, not produced bycausal mechanisms. The quantum measurement problem dissolves because col-lapse presupposes causation; what remains is constraint satisfaction. Entanglementis correlation constraint, not action at a distance. Spacetime emerges as a perspec-tival feature of embedding within atemporal constraint structure. We situate thisframework relative to Adlam's constraint-based laws, Rovelli's relational quantummechanics, and ontic structural realism. The methodological principle is: axiomscannot be causally explained (this would require prior causes), but theorems can bederived from them. Explanation terminates not in deeper causes but in empiricallydiscovered constraint structures.