Mass as Coherence Tension in MID/QC

Mass as Coherence Tension in MID/QC develops a substrate‑first account of mass as an emergent property arising from the tension required to stabilize coherent modes within the MID field. Instead of treating mass as an intrinsic quantity or a curvature‑induced parameter, the paper models it as the coherence‑locking tension that a structure must maintain to persist as a stable, phase‑aligned configuration. The work formalizes mass as a measure of coherence persistence, derives the tension‑stability relationships that determine particle‑level mass values, and shows how mass emerges naturally from the geometry of the coherence well. It also clarifies how mass, tension, and phase‑gradient resistance interrelate, providing a unified substrate‑level explanation that links mass to inertia and gravitational behavior. This paper anchors the mass‑branch of the MID/QC framework and completes a key pillar of Wave 1.