The Gain Geometry of Temporal Mismatch: Shear, Leverage, and Capture in Multi-Timescale Systems

The first fifteen papers in the Δt framework treat temporal mismatch as monotonically harmful: larger Δt produces more shear, more fragility, more collapse. This paper identifies a missing sign. Δt separation is not a monotone hazard; it is a baseline whose effect is signed by correlator properties, yielding three regimes: shear, leverage, and capture. The same temporal separation that produces destructive shear under weak coupling produces constructive leverage under strong coupling — higher epistemic resolution through structured disagreement across timescales. The critical variables are the system baseline B (timescale separation) and correlator quality K = (throughput T, fidelity F, authority A, cost…