The Dynamics of Discrete Fact: A Phase-Transition Theory of Wavefunction Collapse (V1)

(Note: Please refer to Version 2 (v2) of The Dynamics of Discrete Fact: A Phase-Transition Theory of Wavefunction Collapse for the updated and expanded presentation of the framework).-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This work proposes that wavefunction collapse is not a primitive postulate of quantum theory but a genuine physical phenomenon: a nonequilibrium phase transition occurring in a macroscopic measurement apparatus. Collapse is modeled as a critical instability in an emergent order parameter governed by time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau dynamics. In this framework, discrete measurement outcomes arise through spontaneous symmetry breaking in the apparatus–environment system, while Born weights are preserved through basin geometry and conservation of probability flow in the associated Fokker–Planck equation. The theory requires no modification of the Schrödinger equation and introduces no new fundamental constants. It instead treats collapse as an emergent thermodynamic regime of standard open-system quantum dynamics. The framework yields concrete experimental signatures—including critical slowing near threshold, hysteresis under parameter cycling, metastable superpositions, and outcome-correlated transient spikes in detector response—by which the collapse transition may be tested. This work provides a concrete existence proof that the measurement postulate of quantum mechanics admits a mechanistic construction from statistical physics, placing wavefunction collapse in the same conceptual category as other emergent macroscopic instabilities such as superconductivity and ferromagnetism.