The Speed of Light Is the Limit of Physical Quantities, Not the Limit of Spacetime Quantities——A Hierarchical Reclassification of Quantum Entanglement and Cosmic Expansion

Abstract

This paper advances the core thesis that the speed of light is the limit of physical quantities, not the limit of spacetime quantities. The "superluminal" correlations of quantum entanglement and the "superluminal" recession of distant galaxies in cosmic expansion are not violations of relativity, but rather because these two phenomena belong to the category of spacetime quantities and fall outside the jurisdiction of the speed of light. Through the methodology of "hierarchical reclassification," this paper separates physical quantities (matter, energy, signals, causal chains) from spacetime quantities (spacetime structure, expansion, connectivity, topological relations), pointing out that the definition of velocity (m/s) presupposes "matter moving through space"; when the object of discussion is spacetime itself, the concept of "velocity" no longer applies. This paper further clarifies that there is no fundamental contradiction between relativity and quantum mechanics requiring "unification"—they describe effective laws at different levels (the L4 physical level and the L1–L2 quantum level). The "superluminal paradox" that has long troubled physics is, in essence, a result of category misplacement.