Coherence–Selection Interface Theory: An Operational Account of Selection Under Constraint

We introduce Coherence–Selection Interface Theory (CSIT), an operational framework describing how stable outcomes are realized in complex systems under constraint. CSIT does not posit new entities, forces, or dynamical laws. Instead, it formalizes selection as a structural filtering process acting on the space of admissible configurations, favoring outcomes that remain coherent under irreversible constraint. We distinguish dynamics, which specify how configurations evolve, from selection, which determines which configurations persist as stable records. Coherence and record support are defined using measurable functionals on configuration space, independent of energetic cost. Time is treated as a non-primitive bookkeeping label derived from the partial ordering of irreversible records. We specify explicit falsifiability conditions and propose a concrete experimental scenario in which CSIT predicts divergence from energy-only statistical models. This paper establishes the formal vocabulary, scope, and testable commitments of CSIT, situates it within the broader landscape of theories on self-organization and the foundations of physics, and builds on the priority note “Emergent Time from Coherence Under Selection Pressure” (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18176475) as foundational conceptual provenance.