GRAVITY AS PROCESSING LATENCY Deriving the Equivalence Principle and Spacetime Curvature from Local Information Density (Processing-Latency Gravity / Physical Buffer Framework — Model v1.0)

We present a covariant, phenomenological framework in which gravity—observed as proper-time slowing and acceleration—emerges from finite local information-processing capacity. A bounded information-load fraction quantifies the ratio of relevant local bits to causal-patch capacity. To ensure horizon formation in the saturation limit, we introduce an unbounded latency/redshift potential We adopt the corrected-sign conformal ansatz so that restoring an event-horizon limit. We provide (i) a covariant action for (equivalently ) coupled to a Landauer-defined matter–information scalar ; (ii) the resulting field equations and their static Poisson limit; (iii) PPN matching at displayed order with in the weak-field regime; (iv) a solar-system viability mechanism via Vainshtein screening (cubic Galileon derivative self-interaction) to suppress any scalar-mediated fifth force; and (v) a cosmological embedding using a generalized Yücel–Landauer relation for an informational energy density. We then include an order-of-magnitude “Informational Vacuum Catastrophe” argument and its holographic/horizon-temperature resolution, showing that the correct horizon temperature naturally yields an energy-density scale comparable to the observed dark-energy density. The manuscript is explicit about phenomenological choices, stability requirements, and empirical tests, and lays out a clear program for microphysical derivation and data confrontation.