Theory ZM: A Pre-Geometric Framework for the Multiscale Emergence of Physical Structures.

Foundational note and research program in fundamental physics. AbstractTheory ZM proposes a pre-geometric framework in which the usual entities of physics, space, time, matter, energy, fields, and gravitation, are not treated as the primary constituents of reality, but as effective emergent structures arising from a discrete substrate of elementary units of physical information, here called quantum pixels. Within this framework, geometry is not primitive. It results from a deeper dynamics of compatibility, coherence, and multiscale stabilization. The central hypothesis of Theory ZM is that the ultimate degrees of freedom of the world do not derive their physical meaning from localization in a pre-existing space, but from their participation in relations of compatibility, transition, and coherence. Reality does not emerge from a mere accumulation of elements, but from a succession of stable regimes selected within the space of possible configurations. The present formulation introduces an explicit mechanism of stabilization through attractor wells and coherence plateaus. Such regimes may generate effective invariants capable of acting as proto-constants prior to the full emergence of geometric spacetime. The originality of Theory ZM lies in the explicit articulation of six commitments: existence of a discrete physical substrate, primitive non-geometricity, primacy of coherence over localization, dynamical stabilization through attractors, hierarchical multiscale emergence, and the possibility of holographic reconstruction of the bulk from boundary structures. Within this perspective, gravitation may be reinterpreted as an effective structural dynamics, while certain cosmological phenomena, in particular dark energy, may be understood as the macroscopic expression of an irreducible cost of global coherence. This work is not presented as a completed formal theory, but as a foundational framework and a scientific research program. Its value should be assessed through its internal coherence, its capacity to reformulate the categories of existing physics, its degree of formalizability, and its eventual ability to generate discriminating consequences.