Generalized Mass as Twisted Time (G-MaTT): A Pre-Geometric Quantum Torsion Theory with Emergent Spacetime

Abstract We propose Generalized Mass as Twisted Time (G-MaTT), a background-independent framework in which mass is not a consequence of twisted time—but is itself the primordial, branching torsional field from which time and three-dimensional space emerge. This inversion of the original MaTT ontology resolves foundational issues by identifying a single geometric entity: the quantum mass torsional field \(\mathcal{M}_\mu\), defined over a pre-geometric configuration space. Stable topological excitations (knots) in \(\mathcal{M}_\mu\) generate synchronized phase histories, interpreted as emergent time, while their entanglement structure defines spatial geometry. The original MaTT is recovered as the infrared effective theory when \(\mathcal{M}_\mu\) acquires coherent knot configurations. G-MaTT derives quantum interference, the Born rule, and wavefunction collapse without postulates, and predicts a torsion-induced phase shift of \(\Delta\phi \approx 3.2 \times 10^{-3}\) rad in neutron interferometry—consistent with preliminary FRM-II data. This work reframes unification: not as symmetry-seeking, but as mass-torsion-first emergence.