Discrete Proto-States in the Scalar Drag Emergence Framework

This paper investigates the emergence of constrained, repeatable configurations in the Scalar Drag Emergence Framework (SDEF), referred to as proto-states. Starting from the primitive generator, the analysis shows that persistent structures are not arbitrary but are restricted by stability conditions, transport–ancestry feedback, and topological constraints. Admissible configurations must satisfy requirements of stability, persistence under perturbation, ancestry compatibility, and timescale balance. The combined effect of these mechanisms reduces the continuous space of possible configurations to a structured subset of attractors. Proto-states are defined as equivalence classes of these attractors, characterized by shared topology, stability properties, and dynamical behavior. The results demonstrate that continuous transport–ancestry dynamics can produce constrained and repeatable structural classes without introducing discrete entities as primitives. This provides a pathway toward understanding how effective discreteness may emerge from underlying continuous dynamics within the SDEF framework.