From Pre-Coherence to Spacetime: The Geometric Structure of Projection

The Quantum Blueprint Formalism (QBF) describes the emergence of coherent structure through projection from a pre-coherent space M_s to a coherence manifold M_Θ. Previous papers have established the topological structure of M_s (Schmieke, 2026l), the emergence of time from circulation (Schmieke, 2026m), and the dissolution of the quantum measurement problem (Schmieke, 2026j). This paper addresses a fundamental question: What is the origin of spacetime? Is spacetime a feature of M_s, of M_Θ, or of the projection itself? We establish three central results. First, M_s is pre-spatial: it has topological structure but no metric. Distance, angle, and dimension are not defined on M_s. Second, spacetime emerges through projection: the metric structure of M_Θ arises from the geometry of the projection map π_Θ and the structure of the tension functional Φ. The dimension of spacetime (3+1) is not arbitrary but determined by the admissibility conditions. Third, the metric signature (−,+,+,+) emerges from the distinction between temporal circulation (Schmieke, 2026m) and spatial distinction: time is the direction of Ω_s, space comprises the directions orthogonal to Ω_s. These results connect the QBF to approaches in quantum gravity. The emergent metric is compatible with general relativity at large scales but predicts deviations at the Planck scale where the projection structure becomes visible. We derive a minimum length scale l_min \~ √(ℏG/c³) below which spatial distinctions cannot be coherently projected---this is the Planck length, now understood as a projection limit rather than a fundamental discreteness.