Real–Now–Front Cosmology: A Generative Framework for Spacetime, Expansion and Dark Matter

In this paper, we develop Real–Now–Front (RNF) cosmology, a generative framework in which spacetime arises through slice-by-slice alignment of a pre-geometric chronon substrate. Chronons are alignment degrees of freedom rather than quanta of time; their coherent ordering induces an effective Lorentzian metric, causal structure and operational rods and clocks. A metric-free alignment functional governs the pre-geometric domain, while in the aligned phase the induced geometry emerges as a stable hyperbolic fixed point of the reconstruction flow. We show that Lorentzian signature is dynamically selected by Cauchy stability, so causal cones arise as reconstruction attractors rather than imposed symmetries. The resulting Temporal Coherence Principle (TCP) provides a local alignment rule whose geometric response produces kinematic cosmic expansion without vacuum energy. Under-coherent regions stretch, over-coherent regions collapse and near-equilibrium regions reproduce general relativity and Friedmann–Robertson–Walker behavior. Chronon microphysics further yields the Chronon Exclusivity Principle (CEP), generating finite-density non-singular cores whose radii scale as Formula: see text, with M the enclosed mass; these cores act as cold dark matter candidates and regulate compact objects. The framework remains compatible with large-scale Formula: see textCDM phenomenology while offering a unified generative origin of spacetime geometry, expansion and dark-sector effects.