Quantum Electrodynamics as a Projected Recovery Sector of Log-Harmonic Field Theory

This manuscript presents a preliminary theoretical framework for interpreting quantum electrodynamics as a recovered electromagnetic projection sector of Log-Harmonic Field Theory. The effective electromagnetic gauge group U(1)em is read as the observer-accessible diagonal phase channel U(1)diag(𝒪). U(1)em ≡ U(1)diag(𝒪). The fine-structure constant is interpreted as projective permeability of this channel, while its inverse is interpreted as electromagnetic projection impedance. α𝒪 = ΓU(1)diag𝒪 / Θ𝒪, α𝒪−1 = Kα𝒪 Under the canonical finite 1+7 Schur normal form and the projection-mode count N* = 50, the Alpha readout is: α50−1 = 4π³ + M₂(50)/16 − (7/16)ρ50 − (1/16)ρ50² + (2/3)ρ50³ ≈ 137.0359991962. The manuscript does not claim a complete microscopic derivation of QED from S1L. Instead, it organizes charge quantization, photon recovery, scattering amplitudes, virtual particles, vacuum polarization, electron self-energy, the Lamb shift, anomalous magnetic moments, renormalization, and measurement-space offsets as explicit projective proof targets.