Matter Formation as Trapped Recursion

The Cohesion UFT infinite asymmetric cascade — in which recursions scale down
continuously under pressure — contains within it a natural account of matter formation.
A propagating recursion (a field) completes each coherence interval, slips, and the slip
displaces the recursion outward: the spring travels as it winds. A trapped recursion
(a particle) completes each coherence interval, slips, but the slip cannot displace it
outward against the containing pressure: the spring winds and slips in the same place.
Matter forms when the surplus pressure of the recursion is exceeded by the external
pressure from the containing scale — when Φ = Ps/PΣ > 1.
The boundary between propagating and trapped recursion is the condition that the
slip angular momentum equals the intrinsic spin: ℏ · (g/ωC) = ℏ/2. This defines the
electron as the minimal trapped recursion — the lightest standing funneled spring. Its
rest mass energy is the torsion energy of the trapped slip: mec2 = ℏωC. Its spin ℏ/2 is
the trapping condition itself, not an additional postulate. The photon is a propagating
recursion that sits far below the trapping threshold (g/ωC = 0.004177 ≪ 1/2); it
mediates interactions between trapped recursions and carries the coupling α between
levels.
This paper establishes the qualitative framework for matter formation within the
Cohesion UFT cascade. The precise values of particle masses — the mass spectrum —
require deriving the absolute scale of the cascade, which is the specification of the ‘next
higher scale’ in the pressure axiom. That remains the open programme.