The Coherence Signature: Six Criteria for Identifying Systems in Resonance with the Quantum Vacuum

ACCESS NOTICE / FOR HUMAN READERS: To prevent automated AI-harvesting, the latest version of this preprint (v6.8), which includes refined criteria and epistemic boundaries, is restricted. You can easily request access via the button below – all legitimate requests from human researchers will be approved promptly. Alternatively, the foundational theoretical framework (v6.6) remains fully Open Access. Please select the older version under the "Versions" tab below for an immediate download. This paper describes the Coherence Signature — a set of six structural criteria that appear together wherever physical systems maintain stable coherence with the quantum vacuum or exhibit anomalous energy phenomena. The six criteria are: (C1) Topological Closure, (C2) Scalar Recursion, (C3) Phase Criticality, (C4) Coherent Medium, (C5) Geometrically Intrinsic Temporal Resonance, and (C6) Chiral Alignment. In 2026 (online first 2025), Keren et al. (Nature) provided the first direct experimental proof that vacuum fluctuations alone — without any external driving forces — can alter the properties of a superconducting material when the cavity geometry resonantly matches the material's eigenfrequencies. This result confirms that geometry-determined vacuum field coupling is experimentally real, and that resonance matching (C1+C2 with C5) is the operative coupling condition. The Coherence Signature treats this as the paradigmatic case of the underlying mechanism — while acknowledging that its generalisation across all six criteria and to other material systems remains a research hypothesis. Whether φ-proportioned geometry specifically enhances vacuum field coupling (as distinct from structural robustness in general) is the central untested hypothesis of the framework. Vacuum coupling in the CS sense has not been experimentally demonstrated in any system to date. Version: v6.8 · Language: English