AIM Framework glossary
Decoherence Time
Canonical definition
Decoherence Time is the characteristic timescale over which endogenous coupling is overridden by exogenous reality-contact, measured at the single-Individual or dyadic scale as the exponential decay timescale over which order effects and endogenous Evidence decay toward a classical baseline as independent exogenous input arrives (Chapter 14, Section 14.7.2), and at the population scale as the expected time until external reality imposes costs that coupled dynamics cannot absorb, determined by buffer capacity relative to extraction rate (Chapter 13, Section 13.4.6). Within the AIM Framework, the two definitions name the same reality-contact interval from the cognitive and systemic sides: Decoherence Time governs how long a coupled Belief system can sustain Beliefs that diverge from reality before exogenous Evidence or buffer exhaustion forces a correction, collapse, or crisis. Domains with short Decoherence Time (physical survival, immediate physiological needs) self-correct rapidly; domains with long Decoherence Time (status hierarchies, institutional orthodoxies, financial bubbles) can sustain divergence for extended periods, accumulating costs that are eventually discharged catastrophically rather than gradually. (This regime is a tracked state, not a permanent property: on the tracked-state and Referent-attachment treatment of this regime, see Sections 14.8.1 and 14.3.5.)
Explanation
Decoherence Time is how long a Belief system can run on its own internal feedback before reality forces a correction. Inside a single evaluation sequence, it is the interval over which the order effect of an earlier question fades as fresh, independent observations arrive; across a population or institution, it is how long stored buffers allow a shared Belief to diverge from the Referent before reality imposes the cost. In some domains, reality corrects quickly: if you believe you can fly and step off a roof, Decoherence Time is seconds. In other domains, reality is patient: a financial bubble can run for years before the gap between Belief and reality becomes unsustainable. AIM’s key insight is that the damage done during the decoherence delay is proportional to both the Coupling Strength and the duration: high Coupling Strength with long Decoherence Time is the architectural recipe for catastrophic rather than gradual correction, which is why the framework’s crisis predictions are parameterised by both variables jointly, not either alone. Within the Appendix A formalism (Appendix A, Section A.5.7.5), Decoherence Time is governed by the relaxation time τS (and, for slow-layer phenomena, by the slow-loop time constants), not by the Critical Loop Gain Gcrit or the Critical Coupling Strength κ_c. The relaxation times do not move the bifurcation threshold, which is fixed by the topology of the coupled loop, but they set the duration over which a supercritical loop can compound before reality intrudes. Long-τ environments are dangerous because they extend the supercritical run, not because they move the threshold.
Epistemic status
Parameter.
Derivation
Chapter 13, Section 13.4.6; Chapter 14, Section 14.7.2; Appendix A, Section A.5.7.5.
Also in the entry
Notation Statement. Denoted τ in formal equations, derivations, operational-definition blocks, appendices, figure and table headings, and the definitions database. Written in full as “Decoherence Time” in running prose. On first prose appearance in any given document the English term may be followed by a parenthetical gloss of the form “Decoherence Time”; a second parenthetical gloss of the same form is permitted at the first prose occurrence of the term in the main body after the formal definitions section, as a courtesy to readers who skip front-matter. All subsequent prose occurrences within that document use the English term only.