Alignment Threshold Time (ATT): Completing the Wave Function Through Observer–Field Alignment

Quantum mechanics provides extraordinary predictive accuracy yet remains conceptually incomplete regarding wave-function collapse, the role of the observer, and the nature of randomness. Decoherence theory explains the suppression of interference through environmental entanglement but does not complete the transition from probabilistic description to a single resolved outcome for an observer. This paper introduces Alignment Threshold Time (ATT) as a completion principle for quantum description. ATT quantifies the duration over which an observer and a field remain misaligned through a shared, dynamically changing relational variable termed Consequence Deviation (ΔC). The wave function is reframed as an alignment-conditional articulation, valid only while ATT > 0. Collapse is not postulated as a physical discontinuity but arises naturally as the exhaustion of articulation when alignment completes (ΔC → 0). The framework preserves standard quantum dynamics, reclassifies probability as transitional, clarifies the observer–field relationship, and provides a minimal, testable experimental proposal distinguishing decoherence from outcome resolution. This work proposes Alignment Threshold Time (ATT) as a relational completion principle for quantum mechanics, reframing wave-function collapse as exhaustion of articulation rather than a physical discontinuity.