MMS-A13: Early Galaxy Formation via Pre-Structuring

This paper represents an earlier stage in the development of the Entropic Spacetime Field (ESF) framework. The current reference implementation is presented in MMS-A19: The Entropic Spacetime Field: A Canonical Wave Framework for Cosmic Structure Formation 10.5281/zenodo.21433778, which supersedes the mathematical formulation described here while retaining a number of the underlying physical concepts. MMS-A13 develops an ESF route to early galaxy formation that does not require a dominant cold dark matter particle sector. The proposal is that large-scale structure can be pre-structured by long-wavelength dynamics of the ESF thermodynamic medium together with the ESF energy layer (MMS-A12), producing persistent transport pathways before full baryonic collapse. Within this picture, low-density baryonic material is present throughout spacetime at low level, while dust and electromagnetic activity can be biased into long-duration channels and nodes. A minimal mechanism for early clumping efficiency is presented: (i) transport channels form as an emergent feature of energy-layer dynamics coupled to persistent ripplefield geometry, (ii) electromagnetic-coupled transport biases baryonic material and dust into those channels and (iii) dust accumulation at stable nodes increases cooling and shielding, amplifying collapse without special tuning. Observational hooks and falsifiers are highlighted, including multi-tracer alignment tests and the use of CMB temperature and lensing reconstructions as fossil constraints on long-memory pathway morphology. Forward links are provided to MMS-A14 (phase transitions and compact objects) and MMS-A15 (synthesis and observational programme).