Haven't checked through the whole OP but could I offer an option 5?
The only time we see Carol overpower Thanos is in this glowey state
We see her enter this state a total of two times in Endgame
Once when she destroys
sanctuary 2 in her initial arrival
And the other of course when she
begins to overpower Thanos after initially being overpowered
So whats special about this?
What's special is in the first instance of the glowey state she's stated in the script to have
gone Binary
It even explicitly states that she glows brighter when it happens