Spacetime as a Dynamical Substrate: A Conceptual Framework for Matter, Gravitation, Relativity and Cosmological Phenomena

This article proposes a unifying conceptual framework in which spacetime is interpreted as a continuous, pliant physical substrate from which particles, fields, and gravitational phenomena emerge as localized or collective excitations. Particles are described as stable, self-sustaining oscillatory configurations of spacetime, with wave-particle duality arising from the internal dynamics of these excitations. At microscopic scales, gravitation is understood as stress and deformation induced by localized oscillations; and at macroscopic scales, as curvature of the spacetime substrate consistent with the geometric description of general relativity. The framework provides a physical interpretation of relativistic effects — including time dilation, length contraction, and Lorentz invariance — as consequences of finite oscillatory capacity within spacetime rather than as purely kinematic postulates. It further offers a unified interpretive viewpoint on zero-point energy, the Higgs mechanism, antiparticles, and phenomena commonly attributed to dark energy, inflation and dark matter, framing them as manifestations of intrinsic spacetime properties rather than as separate entities. Preliminary conceptual explanations on the nature of spin, charge, quantization and QCD are also attempted based on separate assumptions. The possibility of unification of Forces and Fields is explored through the spacetime-substrate framework. Explanation for matter-antimatter asymmetry is also provided, and phenomena such as Big Bang and black holes are reexamined through the substrate-based framework. The aim of this work is to provide a coherent physical interpretation that unifies key aspects of quantum theory, general relativity, and cosmology within a single framework, without contradicting any established theories or mathematical formalism.