The Four Gates: Operational Criteria for Central-Regime–Admitting Systems

This paper introduces the Four Gates, an operational decision framework for assessing whether a given system admits the structural prerequisites required for the existence of a central regime. The work is explicitly based on the completed theoretical framework of Causal Update Cosmology (CUC I–IX), in which causal update systems are shown to organize into three regimes—initial, central, and terminal. The present paper does not extend, revise, or reinterpret that framework. Instead, it translates the existence conditions of the central regime, as established in CUC v9, into a set of qualitative and non-metric operational criteria. Each gate evaluates one necessary structural condition and yields a ternary outcome (Pass / Fail / Boundary). The Four Gates are not designed to derive physical laws, provide quantitative predictions, or compare existing theories. Their sole purpose is to function as a structural admissibility test, separating systems that can in principle support a central regime from those that cannot. By separating existence conditions from interpretation and derivation, this paper provides a minimal and portable interface between the completed CUC framework and subsequent regime-local analyses. The framework is applicable in principle to physical, computational, and social systems, although no specific applications are claimed in this work. This paper is intended as a foundational operational reference for future studies on inevitability, interpretation, and regime-dependent behavior, including—but not limited to—subsequent analyses of relativity, quantum theory, and gravity within the CUC framework. Note on AI Use This work also explores the broader question of whether new physical theories can emerge through collaboration with AI systems. ChatGPT (OpenAI) was used extensively in the generation and structuring of theoretical ideas and manuscript text, beyond simple editing or polishing. All numerical experiments and scientific validation were performed by the human author.