A Meta-Ledger Theory of Emergent Time and Closure

DRAFT STATUS

This paper presents a meta-ledger framework for emergent physics, structured
as a 16-stage logical scaffold ranging from pre-metric origin to recursive closure.
Instead of postulating physical laws as axioms, we derive them as necessary con-
sequences of an ‘admissibility audit’ on a neutral substrate. We demonstrate that
(1) time emerges not as a background dimension but as a discrete update protocol
(beat), (2) metric geometry and the inverse-square law arise from combinatorial
Gauss closure on graphs, and (3) horizons and observers are inevitable saturation
limits of information density. By strictly separating ‘form’ (invariants) from ‘map-
ping’ (units/constants), we resolve fundamental paradoxes—such as the tension
between global entanglement and local signalling—without introducing free pa-
rameters. The result is a parameter-free architecture where macro-scale laws are
recursive instantiations of micro-scale constraints.