Time

This paper develops a mechanical ontology of time in which temporal flow emerges fromthe recursion rate of physical systems rather than from geometric properties of spacetime.In the Cohesion UFT framework, every physical system evolves through discrete recursivestate-updates, and the rate of these updates defines its temporal cadence. Field densityimposes resistance to recursion — recursive drag — that slows this cadence and manifestsobservationally as time dilation.A central prediction of the recursion-density ontology diverges sharply from general relativity: acceleration alone, independent of tangential velocity or gravitational potential,generates field density and therefore slows recursion. Relativity explicitly attributes temporal effects only to velocity and gravitational curvature, not to acceleration as such. Thisdivergence creates an opportunity for direct empirical discrimination.To test this prediction, a centrifuge-based experiment is proposed that isolates acceleration from velocity by minimising rotor radius while maximising angular velocity. At lowtangential speeds the relativistic dilation ∆t/t ≈12(v/c)2is negligible. If measurable dilation proportional to radial acceleration is nonetheless observed, the recursion-density modelis supported. If no dilation above the relativistic prediction is found, the geometric ontologyis confirmed and the Cohesion UFT calibration parameter kα is bounded from above. Eitheroutcome is scientifically decisive.This paper extends the Structural Time framework [4] and connects to the Gravity asMechanical Attractor paper [5]. The acceleration-density relationship is derived from theCohesion UFT’s single pressure axiom.