RCM Programme —A Dynamical Return Constraint for Consciousness: Perturbational Closure as a Cross-Theoretical Invariant

A Dynamical Return Constraint for Consciousness: Perturbational Closure as a Cross-Theoretical Invariant. This paper proposes the Return Constraint Model (RCM), a perturbation-based dynamical framework specifying four jointly necessary conditions for conscious states: global propagation (C1), directed causal return within a bounded temporal window W2 of 80–250 ms (C2), transient attractor stabilisation (C3), and structural selectivity (C4). The W2 window is derived from two independent physical mechanisms grounded in directly measurable neural anatomy — Layer 6 corticothalamic axonal conduction times (Stoelzel et al., 2017, ranging from less than 2 ms to 40–50 ms one-way) and TRN alpha gating physics — and independently corroborated by five methodological branches comprising 98 individually verified, named published sources within a structural framework sized for up to 198+ items. Applied to thalamocortical dysrhythmia, RCM generates a four-category gating failure taxonomy across nine neurological and psychiatric conditions: Tourette syndrome, absence epilepsy, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, Parkinson's disease, tinnitus, neuropathic pain, post-concussion syndrome, and depression. The framework is substrate-neutral, explicitly falsifiable with eight stated kill conditions, and was stress-tested against six adversarial attacks before writing. This version corrects the conduction-time range and evidence-count figures stated in the previous version, and adds discussion of Fleming et al. (2023). This version also restores Supplementary Appendices A–D (Interface with Contemporary Neuroscience; Interface with Collapse and Quantum Models; Systems and Physics Interpretation; Artificial Systems Interface), inadvertently omitted from intervening versions, with Appendices A and C lightly updated to reference the nine-condition clinical taxonomy and Fang et al. (2025) respectively