A Coherence-Based Ontological Candidate for the Dark Sector

Building on a prior diagnostic analysis in which dark matter was interpreted as an effective closure term in coarse-grained gravitational descriptions, this paper explores one possible ontological realization of such a closure. The proposal treats large-scale, phase-structured field coherence as a physically real contributor to effective stress–energy. Within this framework, spatially structured coherence produces dark-matter-like gravitational behavior, while smoothly distributed background coherence produces dark-energy-like effects. This work does not claim uniqueness or experimental confirmation. It is presented as a candidate ontology and a research program rather than a completed theory. The proposal is constructed to recover standard quantum mechanics and general relativity in appropriate limits, and it does not modify Einstein’s equations. Alternative explanations of the dark sector—including particle dark matter and modified gravity—remain fully viable. The aim is to articulate a coherent, testable ontological possibility consistent with the diagnostic role of the dark sector established in effective gravitational modeling.