Coherence as a System-Level Constraint: Limiting Function via Admissible Global Modes
Abstract (Index version)
This work explores the hypothesis that function in biological and complex systems is constrained not primarily by energy availability or information throughput, but by the number of dynamically admissible global coordination modes.
We frame coherence as a system-level order parameter defined over an admissible region of state space, shaped by geometric and coupling constraints rather than by depletion of local resources. While systems may retain many local degrees of freedom, effective global degrees of freedom are sharply reduced by closure requirements, yielding only a small set of stable collective modes.
From this perspective, functional breakdown occurs when no admissible global configuration remains—not when energy or information are exhausted. This provides a unifying explanation for overload, fragility, and phase-transition–like behavior observed across biological, neural, metabolic, and engineered systems.
The framework is presented as a falsifiable conceptual model. No new empirical claims are asserted; instead, testable predictions are outlined to guide future experimental and computational validation.
