We locate the Coulomb as a subtype of a broader class of coherence-interface discontinuity types. In standard physics, the Coulomb barrier is the repulsive electrostatic potential that prevents like charged nuclei from approaching closely without sufficient energy, tunneling, or screening. The present framework preserves that result while situating it within a wider concept: the Coherence Discontinuity Barrier (CDB). A CDB is any gradient, phase, torsional, boundary, or closure-depth mismatch that prevents two coherence domains from freely integrating. The Coulomb barrier is then recovered as the static U(1) limit of the broader barrier law. Fermionic exclusion is refined as a Fermionic Phase-Gradient Barrier, rooted in antisymmetric phase structure rather than electrostatic repulsion. The infratier framework adds a depth-ordering: U(1) expresses electrostatic storage or phase propagation, SU(2) expresses torsional and chiral transaction, and SU(3) expresses confinement closure. The paper further generalizes the barrier-bridge architecture across chemistry, biology, cognition, language, social organization, and cosmology, while clarifying that these domains share a formal interface logic rather than a single physical mechanism. The central result is that boundaries preserve identity, bridges permit relation, and selective permeability enables emergence. The universe is not organized by continuity alone, but by tuned discontinuity. Keywords Coherence Discontinuity Barrier; Coulomb barrier; U(1); SU(2); SU(3); infratier closure; Pauli exclusion; selective permeability; boundary; bridge operator; emergence; coherence domain; closure depth
Philip Lilien (Sun,) studied this question.