Wick Rotation as a Cooling Process: A Novel Perspective on the Origin of Quantum Mechanics and the Arrow of Time

Based on the complexification of the modular flow parameter in the Tomita-Takesaki theorem and the thermal time hypothesis, we propose a complex-time picture: as a system approaches absolute zero, real time freezes while imaginary time emerges. Mathematically, this is equivalent to a Wick rotation. In this picture, applying the heat diffusion equation at absolute zero forces this rotation, transforming the diffusion equation into the Schrödinger equation and ensuring entropy invariance as required by the third law of thermodynamics. This complex-time picture thus offers a unified, temperature-based origin for two fundamental facts: why microscopic particles obey the Schrödinger equation, and why an arrow of time emerges in macroscopic systems.