Temporal Synchrony Gradient Gravity: Foundations, Derived Limits, and Low-Acceleration Structure

This work presents the theoretical foundations of Temporal Synchrony Gradient Gravity (TSGG), a gravitational framework in which gravitational acceleration arises from spatial gradients in the historically accumulated deficit of proper time. In this formulation, mass–energy does not merely induce instantaneous time dilation, but causes regions of space to accumulate less proper time over their evolutionary history, defining a scalar temporal phase field whose spatial gradient governs gravitational motion. The theory postulates a local, causal, present-tense acceleration law proportional to the spatial gradient of this accumulated temporal offset. The framework is shown to recover Newtonian gravity exactly in the high-acceleration regime and to remain fully consistent with weak-field general relativity, reproducing geodesic motion without modifying the spacetime metric or inertial properties. In the deep low-acceleration regime, a weakened synchrony response leads naturally to a characteristic velocity scaling, without invoking exotic matter or phenomenological interpolation functions. This paper is intentionally theory-first in scope. No observational datasets are analyzed and no empirical claims are made. Phenomenological contexts are discussed only illustratively, and detailed observational tests are deferred to future work. The aim of the manuscript is to establish a clear, internally consistent, and falsifiable theoretical foundation upon which empirical investigations may subsequently build. This work supersedes earlier exploratory or phenomenological presentations of the framework and provides a unified, rigorous statement of its core postulates, limiting behavior, and conceptual scope.