Fermionic quantum field theories as probabilistic cellular automata in three dimensions

Abstract

Wetterich showed that certain 1+1D probabilistic cellular automata are equivalent to fermionic QFTs and posed the 3D construction as an open problem. We construct one: a layered automaton ("coincube") whose conversion blocks form the real quaternion representation of Cl(0,3), controlled by binary environment fields whose streaming outruns the carrier ("fresh tape") -- no bit is consulted twice, and the single-particle ensemble propagator equals the annealed Bloch operator at every time. Exact results: the step operator is unitary for an explicit complex structure; the local Grassmann action is extracted mechanically; the single-carrier excitation is a Weyl fermion with an isotropic leading cone (slope ratios 1 within errors, factorized transport excluded by>=10 error bars); at finite momentum the node carries a parity-odd anisotropy c(q)kx ky kz/|k|, cancelled on the Dirac branch whose gap is 2 arctan[qm/(1-qm)], while off-resonant spectators stay massless; media-mediated interaction obeys Ug = (1-2gq^2) U. Obstructions: ballistic transport admits only finite velocity sets; Abelian sign gauges leave the factorized surface; no protected 2-component node survives an exhaustive search. Finally, a dichotomy for the quaternionic event class: an isotropic cone forces overdamping -- Q = w_0/Gamma<= pi/(2 ln 2) at all densities, 0.66 at working density -- while in-state unitarity forces factorized transport. Postselected two-boundary amplitudes evade this, exactly unitary at all times under the fresh tape, with induced weight positivity open: the relativistic object here is an amplitude whose probabilistic reading is unsettled.