Relational Mass — Inertia, Gravitation, and the Potentiality of Matter: 6 Massless vs Massive: A Relational Distinction

1. Introduction: Why Mass Distinctions Matter

Having reconstructed mass as the depth of potentiality and unified inertia and gravitation under horizon curvature, we are positioned to distinguish massless from massive patterns.

Classically, the distinction is tied to intrinsic properties of particles or objects. Relationally, it is a difference in the structuring of potentiality horizons and the depth of relational commitment.

2. Massless Patterns: Patterns at the Limit of Potential Depth

A massless system is one whose potential horizon has minimal or vanishing depth.

• The horizon offers almost no resistance to modulation.

• Stability of pattern is extreme but unconstrained: the system cannot generate persistent curvature in other horizons.

• Cuts instantiated along this horizon require minimal tension, and successive instantiations are constrained primarily by relational context rather than internal depth.

This provides the relational explanation for why photons and other massless entities follow null geodesics: they traverse the maximal-coherence path of a horizon that is effectively “flat” in its own potential depth.

They are free to follow relationally determined trajectories without inducing curvature themselves.

3. Massive Patterns: Deep Horizons, Persistent Constraints

Massive systems are characterised by deep potential wells:

• Their horizons generate strong constraints on possible instantiations.

• Stability requires sustained tension across cuts.

• Massive patterns modulate neighbouring horizons, producing relational effects that classical physics interprets as gravitational influence.

Thus massive systems instantiate persistent relational commitments, shaping the coherence landscape in ways that massless patterns cannot.

4. Continuity Between Massless and Massive

Mass is not binary; it is a continuum of horizon depth:

• Zero depth → massless, null-horizon traversal, unconstrained

• Moderate depth → small mass, limited horizon modulation

• Large depth → massive, strong horizon modulation, persistent inertia

This allows relational mechanics to naturally interpolate between photons, neutrinos, and macroscopic bodies, without invoking extrinsic properties or forces.

5. Linking to Relational Light

This distinction dovetails with the “Relational Light” series:

• Photons = massless relational patterns

• Frequency, wavelength, and propagation = patterning along null-horizon cuts

• Deep-mass systems affect horizon curvature → gravitational redshift, lensing, and modulation of light paths

Thus light and mass are not fundamentally separate ontologies; they are different manifestations of relational potential depth.

6. Implications for Dynamics and Cosmology

• Trajectories of massless systems are determined entirely by the surrounding horizon curvature.

• Massive systems shape horizon curvature and thus influence all nearby patterning.

• Cosmological phenomena, from photon redshift to planetary motion, are consequences of relational interplay between massless and massive horizons.

7. Summary and Transition

The relational distinction between massless and massive is topological, not substantial:

• Massless = limit-case, minimal depth, unconstraining horizon

• Massive = deep, constraining, modulatory horizon

This sets the stage for Post 7 — Quantum Mass Without Particles, where we will examine how quantum mass emerges from stability of relational amplitude structures, bridging naturally from massless/massive distinctions to the quantum domain.