Recoherence and the Relational Collapse Problem_ Identity Governance as the Missing Mechanism in Relational Quantum Mechanics

Relational quantum mechanics holds that quantum states exist only relative to interactions between systems, eliminating the need for observer-independent descriptions. However, it leaves unspecified what governs the selection of determinate outcomes and how consistency is maintained across repeated interactions and observers. This paper argues that the unresolved issue is a governance problem. Drawing on the Resonance Intelligence Core (RIC), it introduces governed collapse as a necessary mechanism for any system that maintains identity across state transitions: a constraint-driven selection from a candidate space to a single admissible outcome under invariant structure. A structural correspondence is established between relational quantum mechanics and governed collapse, and a candidate mechanism—governed recoherence—is defined as identity-preserving, constraint-driven outcome selection. The paper does not propose a new physical theory. It defines a bridge and specifies three open derivations required to evaluate it: mapping governance to physical operators, identifying experimental divergence from decoherence, and deriving parameter structure from constraint. The result is a testable research program addressing the selection problem within a relational framework.