Thermodynamic Decay of the Cosserat Field: Accelerated Mass Assembly and the Cosmic Disk Settling Timeline

**Preprint | Continuum Field Entropy Empirical Validation Series** Recent observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed a population of ultra-massive galaxies (M_* > 10¹⁰ M_) at redshifts $z > 7$, fundamentally challenging the mass assembly limits of standard ΛCDM cosmology. Concurrently, ALMA has detected rotationally supported “cold disks” at $z > 4$, contradicting models that predict dispersion-dominated kinematics at such early epochs. We resolve both anomalies through the Continuum Field Entropy (CFE) framework, modeling the vacuum as a Cosserat field undergoing macroscopic thermodynamic relaxation. We formally derive how the exponentially stiffer vacuum yield stress (∇ Tbg) of the early universe provides a massive confining pressure, significantly increasing effective gravitational binding and accelerating baryonic collapse via a modified virial work term (Wvac). By applying CFE limits to the primary telemetry of 13 JWST CEERS candidates (Labbé et al.), we demonstrate they fall entirely within the allowed CFE assembly zone. Furthermore, we aggregate multi-epoch kinematic data (SPARC, KROSS, KMOS3D, ALMA) to construct the definitive Cosmic Disk Settling Timeline. We mathematically prove that the macroscopic transition from chaotic turbulence to ordered rotation (Vᵣₒₜ/σ₀ > 3) is dictated by the exponential decay of the vacuum. Finally, we show that the ALMA cold early disk anomaly is a natural selection-bias consequence of CFE; super-massive halos “surf” the stiff early vacuum to achieve premature structural settling. **Project Integration:**This document is a standalone validation report. The underlying universal field equations, foundational axioms, and the complete multi-disciplinary validation framework can be found in the primary master manuscript (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20631794).