Recursive Bulk Time: Toroidal Causality in the Hamiltonian Collision Framework

This paper proposes a temporal structure for the bulk within the Hamiltonian Collision Framework (HCF). We argue that a single global time parameter with a monotonic thermodynamic arrow is incompatible with the HCF's core commitments. We propose instead that the bulk's causal structure is toroidal, with two fundamental cycles: population recurrence and phase oscillation. Time within individual sectors emerges from coupling to the bulk's intrinsic phase gradient. Thermodynamic arrows are reframed as phase shear defects in a bulk whose default condition is cyclic and equilibrated. The Universe Schema are reinterpreted as fixed points in the space of viable algebras. The paper distinguishes throughout between structural deductions, motivated proposals, and interpretive images. No new observable predictions are introduced; the paper provides the temporal architecture for subsequent work on ignition dynamics and late-time population distributions.