Temporal Coherence Hypothesis: A Structural Proposal for the Emergence of Time

Abstract This work proposes the Temporal Coherence Hypothesis, a structural framework in which time is not assumed as a fundamental background parameter but emerges from the global coherence of correlations within a physical system. The model suggests that physical evolution becomes possible only when correlations between subsystems satisfy a consistency condition that allows the definition of a coherent ordering of states. In this view, time corresponds to the existence of a globally integrable structure of correlations, while regimes lacking such coherence correspond to a pre-temporal or pre-geometric phase. This framework offers a conceptual approach that may contribute to addressing several open problems in theoretical physics, including the problem of time in quantum gravity, the emergence of classical causal order, and the transition between quantum and macroscopic regimes. The work is presented as a conceptual and structural proposal intended to stimulate further theoretical and mathematical investigation.