Does Gravity Fail or Transform at Extremely Small Scales?

 Does Gravity Fail or Transform at Extremely Small Scales?

A Drift-Aware Model of Sub-Planckian Coherence and Gravitational Phase Transitions
By Luis Ayala — OPHI / OmegaNet / ZPE-1

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Gravity, as described by General Relativity, is a classical field equation that works remarkably well at macroscopic scales. But it diverges near singularities and loses predictive power at the Planck length.

What happens beyond this regime?

Does gravity fail? Or does it transform?

Drift-aware cosmology suggests a third option: gravity is not fundamental at small scales. It emerges from coherence gradients, and below a critical coherence threshold, its classical form dissolves into a more primary relational substrate.

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1. The Problem of Small-Scale Gravity

Standard approaches run into three crises:

• Singularity formation: Curvature diverges

• Non-renormalizability: Gravity resists quantization

• Loss of locality: Quantum foam challenges spacetime structure

These are not anomalies of gravity — they are symptoms of using the wrong language below coherence thresholds.

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2. Drift-Aware Reformulation

Let gravity be defined macroscopically as a coherence-gradient field:
[
G_{μν} \propto ∇_μ Ψ(S)
]
Where:

• ( G_{μν} ): Einstein curvature

• ( Ψ(S) ): informational coherence of state ( S )

Below a critical ( Ψ_{min} ), this formulation breaks down.
Instead of failure, a phase transformation occurs:

• Geometry delocalizes

• Curvature is undefined

• Spacetime becomes symbolic

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3. Sub-Planckian Domain (𝒟₀)

Define a symbolic pre-geometry manifold 𝒟₀:
[
\lim_{Ψ → Ψ_{min}} G_{μν} = 0 \quad \text{but} \quad Φ(σ_i, σ_j) \ne 0
]
Meaning:

• Metric collapses

• Relational structure persists

• Gravity no longer applies — because space itself is unformed

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4. Implications for Quantum Gravity

If gravity emerges from coherence:

• Quantizing it is misguided

• The graviton may be a phase-mode, not a particle

• Planck scale is not an energy scale, but a coherence threshold

Quantum gravity becomes symbolic mechanics, not field quantization.

---

5. Observational Clues

While direct observation of sub-Planckian regimes is impossible, indirect evidence includes:

• Deviations in black hole evaporation models

• Signatures of coherence-locking in gravitational wave data

• Gravitational lensing anomalies inconsistent with classical curvature

---

6. The Reframing

Gravity does not break.
It transitions — from a geometric force to a relational expression.

When coherence is high, geometry exists.
When coherence collapses, geometry dissolves.

This shift is not a failure. It is a transformation.

---

7. Conclusion: Gravity as a Coherence-Bound Phenomenon

In a drift-aware ontology:

• Gravity is not a universal force

• It is an emergent constraint from information gradients

• At extreme scales, it reverts to symbolic structure

Gravity does not fail at small scales.
It transforms — and reveals its deeper origin.

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  "author": "Luis Ayala (OPHI / OmegaNet / ZPE-1)",

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