Ontological Time and Delegated Time: A Structural Framework for the Selector-Time Theory (STT)

This article introduces the conceptual foundations of the Selector-Time Theory (STT), a structural framework that distinguishes ontological time from delegated time as two fundamentally different regimes of temporal existence. Ontological time is defined as the pre-dynamical condition under which events become eligible to persist, while delegated time emerges only after coherence has been selected and stabilized as a persistent event. The work argues that contemporary physical theories implicitly assume time as a given dynamical parameter, leaving unaddressed the prior ontological conditions that allow temporal evolution to occur. STT addresses this gap by proposing a minimal pre-temporal structure in which selection precedes dynamics, thereby reframing the role of time, causality, and persistence. By introducing a clear separation between selection, stabilization, and evolution, the theory provides a coherent interpretation framework capable of integrating quantum foundations, relativistic structures, and ontological minimalism without modifying established dynamical laws. The result is a unified conceptual model in which time is not fundamental but emergent, delegated by the very act of ontological selection.