Time as the Rhythm of Processes: A Geometric-Informational Interpretation of Relativity

This paper proposes a geometric-informational and energetic-structural interpretation of relativity. It does not propose a replacement of the equations of special or general relativity, and it claims no new empirical predictions. The aim is a conceptual reformulation: proper time is interpreted as the rhythm of physical processes, the processes being constrained by the local limiting speed c; mass is interpreted as a local condensation of energy of a background structure; gravity is interpreted as the metric deformation produced by this condensation. In the weak-field regime, the formulation is organized on three levels: (1) propagation at c and the Lorentz transformations; (2) linear metric deformation and the emergence of the spatial factor gamma_s = 1, derived from the minimal massless spin-2 metric dynamics in the harmonic (de Donder) gauge; (3) the energy of the deformation and the nonlinear term associated with the parameter beta, interpreted as the weak-field signature of self-coupling and relevant for the perihelion precession of Mercury. The classical tests (gravitational time dilation, light deflection, Shapiro delay, perihelion precession) are discussed in PPN language, together with common misconceptions and their corrections.