A Non-Repeating Substrate as the Foundation of Physical Law - _Dimensional Emergence, Metastable Universes, and the Structural Arrow of Time_

This paper introduces a minimal cosmological framework based on a single foundational principle: the global substrate underlying all physical law must never revisit a previous global configuration. This non‑repetition constraint forces an irreversible, injective evolution that naturally gives rise to time, dimensionality, inflation‑like transitions, and the stability of physical laws. Universes emerge as metastable pockets within an expanding phase space whose dimensionality increases when novelty growth slows. The framework provides structural explanations for the arrow of time, dark‑matter‑like effects, and the prohibition of terminal states such as heat death or black‑hole stasis. A prototype simulation demonstrating novelty‑driven dimensional activation is included as an appendix. This work proposes a minimal, non‑fine‑tuned foundation beneath cosmology and aligns with Einstein’s search for a unifying structural principle.