Foundations of Temporal Coherence Theory

This document establishes public priority for the unified ontological foundations of Temporal Coherence Theory (TCT): physical existence is not sustained by static being, but by continuous local progression in which states persist only if they retain sufficient coherence to continue. From this foundational principle follows a conceptual structure in which time is discrete, local, and emergent; progression is executed through a universal tick-field; distinguishable structure requires intrinsic compositional differentiation; and coherence functions as the condition under which local states are permitted to persist. This disclosure concerns the conceptual and ontological layer only. It does not reveal or enable any operational rules, algorithms, mappings, update procedures, measurement methods, reconstruction methods, device architectures, software implementations, or other technical application families. All practical embodiments, methods, architectures, and technologies derived from these foundations remain outside the scope of this disclosure and may be separately patentable or suitable for trade secret protection. The document is intentionally non-enabling and defines no implementable computational, mathematical, physical, or engineering procedure.