Bootstrap Cosmic Dawn: From Crystallisation to First Light

We trace the consequences of Bootstrap crystallisation through Jeans collapse to the formation of Pop III stars and the seeding of galactic structure. At crystallisation, the Jeans mass is 626 M☉; it subsequently decreases as gas–radiation Compton coupling weakens (~1.6 Myr), aiding later collapse. Crystallisation perturbations at the rare tail of the distribution (~1 in 10⁸ Jeans volumes) provide seeds for gravitational collapse within one free-fall time (~2,500 yr). Structure formation proceeds in two waves: the first (626 M☉) stars collapse directly to ~300 M☉ black hole seeds by ~2 Myr; as MJ drops through the pair-instability range, second-wave collapses produce PISNe that seed metals by ~5–7 Myr. Blast cavities — though large (~70 ly) — occupy less than 1% of each proto-galactic volume, leaving the bulk of structure formation unimpeded. The defect fraction f ≈ 10⁻⁸ produces ~10¹² seeds — matching the observed galaxy count — each with ~3×10¹⁰ M☉ of gas and ~600 ly spacing at 4 Myr. This paper presents order-of-magnitude estimates only: N-body simulation and detailed chemical evolution are beyond its scope. The purpose is completeness — to verify that Bootstrap produces a physically viable path from crystallisation to cosmic structure, consistent with JWST observations of unexpectedly early galaxies.