The Second Edge Theorem: The Asymptotic Collapse of Sample-Dependent Information Geometry to the Canonical Flat Canvas of Conventional Statistics in Large Sample Limits

Abstract

This paper establishes the global proof of the Second Edge Theorem: as sample size tends to infinity, sample-dependent information-geometric manifolds---formed by the parameter space, sample-scaled Fisher metric, and dual alpha-connections---undergo metric-topological collapse onto the flat tangent space of Conventional Statistics at the true parameter. We first prove a universal tensor valence scaling law, under which tensor fields of valence one through four degenerate at rates determined by sample size. Score fluctuations stabilize, the Fisher metric freezes to its true-parameter value, affine connections dissolve, and Riemann curvature is annihilated. We then bridge geometric collapse with statistical decision theory, showing that Cheeger--Gromov flattening and Le Cam risk condensation are dual projections of the same asymptotic phase transition. A Fisher-compatible Ehresmann connection extends these results to over-parameterized and singular models, yielding horizontal leaf-space collapse and uniform local asymptotic normality. Unifying the First and Second Edge Theorems yields a nested dual-edge hierarchy: Conventional Statistics is the boundary of Information Geometry, which is itself the boundary of Statistical Mechanics and Geometry. Thus, Conventional Statistics is not a heuristic approximation but the unique zero-curvature thermodynamic attractor of regular parametric information manifolds. This redefines modern statistics as a dynamic non-equilibrium field theory of finite-sample fluctuations, phase transitions, and gauge-invariant interactions.