Phase Lock
The event where scalar or dimensional units adopt a common frequency and fixed phase relation, forming a higher coherent unit.
What the term means
Phase lock occurs when separate scalar or dimensional units adopt a common frequency and fixed phase relation through symmetry.
Physically in the ECM, this is the route by which units bond or couple under higher symmetry and gain new effective degrees of freedom.
How it relates to the ECM
Phase lock is central to dimensional growth. Two scalar units phase-lock into a dimensional unit; larger systems phase-lock into higher composite structures when the locked route is shorter or cheaper than the unlocked alternatives.
When phase lock holds, transport becomes efficient and the system behaves like one larger thing. When it fails, the system slips toward mismatch and dispersion.
Why it is important to understand
This term matters because phase lock is the model’s basic success condition. It tells readers when coherence has become durable enough to stack.
It also explains why pressure appears when tracks misalign: pressure is the tendency of phase routes to push until alignment is restored or a different regime is selected.
Book context
Book anchors: Chapter 1, Figure 1.2 and Chapter 3, pages 72–73 define phase lock as common frequency/fixed phase relation and the basis of dimensional growth.
Read this as ECM vocabulary: it defines how the book uses the term inside its own conservation-first model. The term can overlap with standard physics or mathematics, but this page is explaining the ECM role first so readers do not lose the model-specific meaning.