Mass-Energy-Information Equivalence: The Dark-to-Baryonic Ratio from FCC Lattice Code

MassEnergyInformation Equivalence III:
The Dark-to-Baryonic Ratio from Sector Partition
of the FCC Lattice Code
Raghu Kulkarni
SSMTheory Group, IDrive Inc., Calabasas, CA 91302, USA
raghu@idrive.com
Abstract
Parts I and II of this framework [1, 2] derived particle mass ratios and nuclear
binding energies from the fault-tolerant verication cost of topological defects in
a
[[192, 130, 3]]
CSS code on the FCC lattice [3]. The 13-node FCC coordination
cluster (cuboctahedron) has
f
-vector
(V, E, F ) = (13, 36, 38)
, where the 38 faces di-
vide into two geometrically distinct sectors: 32 triangular faces forming the conned
(non-bipartite, color) sector, and 6 square faces forming the deconned (bipartite,
electromagnetic) sector. This sector partition is not ad hocPart I used the same
split to derive the muon mass (
C
µ
= E × F
d
2
= 36 × 6 9 = 207
, deviation
0.11%) [1] and the pion mass from the conned sector (
C
π
= 273
, deviation 0.05%).
The conned sector's verication energy is gravitationally active but electromag-
netically invisible; the deconned sector's energy is both gravitationally active and
EM-visible. By Landauer's principle [6], the ratio of the two sectors' stabilizer counts
gives the dark-to-baryonic mass ratio:
DM
b
=
F
F
=
32
6
= 5.333
The Planck 2018 value [4] is
5.36±0.07
. The deviation is 0.57%, within
1σ
. The ratio
16/3
is a topological invariant of the cuboctahedronit cannot be tuned. Combined
with the ve particle mass ratios from Part I and the nuclear binding constant from
Part II, the FCC lattice code accounts for six independent observables spanning
particle physics, nuclear physics, and cosmology, with zero tted parameters.
Keywords:
dark matter; massenergyinformation equivalence; FCC lattice; quantum
error correction; cuboctahedron; cosmological mass budget
1 Introduction
The dark-to-baryonic mass ratio
DM
/
b
= 5.36 ± 0.07
is one of the most precisely
measured numbers in cosmology [4]. It quanties how much of the universe's gravitating
mass is electromagnetically invisible. Despite decades of direct detection experiments,
1
the microscopic origin of dark matter remains unknown [5]. No Standard Model particle
accounts for it.
This paper proposes that the dark-to-baryonic ratio is not determined by a new particle,
but by the
geometry
of the vacuum error-correcting code. The MassEnergyInformation
(M/E/I) framework [1] models the physical vacuum as a
[[192, 130, 3]]
CSS code on the
Face-Centered Cubic (FCC) lattice [3]. In this framework, any localized excitation
x
in the
topological vacuum requires continuous verication to prevent code collapse. The fault-
tolerant verication cost
C
x
is the total number of classical bits generated by checking
the quantum constraints associated with the defect. By Landauer's principle [6] and
E = mc
2
[7], the resulting mass is:
m
x
= C
x
×
kT ln 2
c
2
(1)
When computing ratios, the environmental variables (
T
,
k
,
c
) cancel exactly:
m
x
/m
y
=
C
x
/C
y
. Mass ratios are pure topological invariants of the vacuum network.
Part I [1] applied four thermodynamic axioms to lter 15 candidate defect types on the 13-
node FCC coordination cluster down to exactly 5 stable particles, matching the electron,
muon, pion, proton, and neutron to within 0.12%. Part II [2] extended this to nuclear
binding via Max-Cut deduplication of shared stabilizer constraints. This paper identies
a sixth prediction: the cosmological dark-to-baryonic ratio, from the face partition of the
cuboctahedron.
2 The M/E/I Framework
2.1 The FCC coordination cluster
The FCC lattice is the densest sphere packing in 3D [8], with coordination
K = 12
.
The 12 nearest neighbors of any FCC site, together with the central site, form a 13-node
cluster whose convex hull is the
cuboctahedron
an Archimedean solid with
f
-vector:
(V, E, F ) = (13, 36, 38), F = F
+ F
= 32 + 6
(2)
The 38 faces consist of 32 equilateral triangles and 6 squares. The
K = 12
coordination
decomposes uniquely into three orthogonal 2D sheets of 4 neighbors each. The sub-
structures have their own
f
-vectors:
Sub-structure
V E F
F
F
1-sheet (1D) 5 4 0 0 0
2-sheet (2D) 9 16 8 2 10
3-sheet (3D, full) 13 36 32 6 38
2.2 The four axioms of topological mass
To determine which mathematical sub-matrices constitute physically viable particles, we
apply a strict topological sieve from Part I [1]. Violating any axiom allows quantum ux
to leak, immediately deleting the defect from the code space.
2
Axiom 1
(Minimum Topological Dimension).
The extraction circuit must obey the princi-
ple of least thermodynamic action. It scales from 1D (edge) to 2D (plane) to 3D (volume)
strictly based on the defect's structural footprint.
A 1D lepton cannot arbitrarily trigger
3D cross-sheet stabilizers, and a 3D baryon cannot be veried by a 2D sub-matrix. The
number of sheets disrupted by the defect sets the circuit dimension.
Axiom 2
(Sector Completeness).
The active sub-matrix must fully cover all stabilizers
capable of detecting the defect.
The circuit cannot selectively ignore constraints that
intersect the defect's spatial footprint. A baryon spanning the full 3D volume must
trigger all
V + F = 51
constraints; it cannot ignore the square faces to save energy.
Axiom 3
(Boundary Closure).
The sub-matrix must form a closed gauge boundary.
Checking vertices but ignoring faces within an active sector allows topological ux to
leak, immediately deleting the defect from the code space. For a conned color pair on
a 2D sheet, the boundary remains open until closed by a 1D string to prevent monopole
leakage (
+1
).
Axiom 4
(Kinematic Shedding for Rest Mass).
Mass represents verication cost at
rest.
If a closed defect is deconned (spatially extended but not pinned by color), the
lattice's
d
2
translational checks measure kinematic momentum across the
d = 3
extraction
rounds; these
d
2
= 9
dynamic trajectory checks must be subtracted to isolate rest mass
(
d
2
). Kinematic shedding applies only when
dim(B
sector
) > d
2
. Conversely, if a defect
is perfectly neutral and topologically closed, its boundary mimics the vacuum; the circuit
must probe its internal
d = 3
geometry to conrm the defect exists (
+d
).
2.3 The unied mass formula and the ve particles
The syndrome extraction circuit relies on the coupling sub-matrix
B
sector
{0, 1}
E
s
×C
s
,
where
E
s
counts the active edges (rows) and
C
s
= V
s
+ F
s
counts the active constraints
vertex and face stabilizers (columns). The verication cost is:
C = dim(B
sector
) = E
s
× C
s
(3)
with dynamical corrections from Axioms 3 and 4. The ve surviving particles and their
costs are:
Particle Sector
dim(B)
Cost
C
Electron 1-sheet, trivial
1
1
Muon 3-sheet, EM (
F
)
36 × 6 = 216 216 d
2
= 207
Pion (
π
±
) 2-sheet, conned
16 × 17 = 272 272 + 1 = 273
Proton 3-sheet, full
36 × 51 = 1836
1836
Neutron 3-sheet, full (neutral)
36 × 51 = 1836 1836 + d = 1839
The muon uses
only the square-face sector
(
F
= 6
). The pion uses
only the triangular-
face conned sector
(on the 2-sheet:
V + F
= 9 + 8 = 17
). The proton uses
both
sectors
:
V + F = 13 + 38 = 51
. This sector partitiontriangles vs squares, conned vs
deconnedis central to the argument that follows.
3
3 The Sector Partition and Dark Matter
3.1 Two face types, two physical sectors
The 38 faces of the cuboctahedron split into:
32 triangular faces
(
F
). Triangles connect three mutually adjacent nodes. They
form odd-length cyclesthe geometry is
non-bipartite
. In gauge theory, non-bipartite
plaquettes conne color ux: a Wilson loop on a triangular plaquette cannot be deformed
to a point without crossing an odd cycle, preventing color-charge screening [9]. This is
the
conned sector
. It does not support photon propagation (which requires bipartite,
even-cycle geometry for gauge-invariant EM Wilson loops).
6 square faces
(
F
). Squares connect four nodes in one of the three orthogonal coordi-
nate planes. They form even-length cyclesthe geometry is
bipartite
. Bipartite plaquettes
support deconned gauge propagation, including the photon. This is the
electromagnetic
sector
. Excitations coupling to this sector interact with light.
3.2 Verication energy in each sector
The vacuum circuit continuously measures both types of face stabilizers to maintain the
code state. By Landauer's principle (Eq. 1), each stabilizer measurement dissipates at
least
kT ln 2
of energy, which by
E = mc
2
corresponds to mass. The total verication
energy of the vacuum partitions into contributions from each face type:
E
total
= E
+ E
(4)
Since every stabilizer in the
[[192, 130, 3]]
CSS code has uniform weight 12 (both
X
-type
and
Z
-type [3]), each face stabilizer requires the same number of qubit measurements,
and therefore the same Landauer cost per measurement round. The energy ratio between
the two sectors equals the ratio of face counts:
E
E
=
F
F
=
32
6
(5)
3.3 Conned = dark, deconned = visible
The conned-sector energy (
E
) has the following properties:
(i)
Gravitationally active.
It contributes to the stress-energy tensor and curves space-
time, because all energy gravitates regardless of its electromagnetic coupling.
(ii)
Electromagnetically invisible.
The non-bipartite triangle plaquettes do not sup-
port photon propagation. Excitations in this sector do not emit, absorb, or scatter light.
(iii)
Spatially extended.
The vacuum code is everywhere; its verication energy lls all
of space, not just localized regions.
(iv)
Collisionless.
Stabilizer verication is a local quantum measurement; the energy
does not scatter against itself or against EM-sector energy.
4
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
(a) FCC cuboctahedron
32 triangles (red) + 6 squares (blue)
Confined sector
32 triangles
EM-invisible
= DARK
84%
EM sector
6 squares
EM-visible
= BARYONIC
16%
(b) Vacuum verification energy budget
by face type
(c) Information Energy Mass
Proton defect
1836 bits
Landauer
1836 kT ln 2
E = mc²
Particle mass
1836 me
Same chain no particle required
32 triangle
stabilizers
Landauer
32 kT ln 2
E = mc²
Dark mass
(no particle)
M = E = I (not M = P = E = I)
Information is the primitive. Particles are derived.
FCC prediction Planck 2018
4.8
5.0
5.2
5.4
5.6
5.8
Dark / Baryonic ratio
32/6 = 5.333
5.364 ± 0.065
0.57% deviation
(0.47 )
(d) Dark-to-baryonic mass ratio
Figure 1: The sector partition of the FCC cuboctahedron and the dark-to-baryonic ratio.
(a) The 13-node coordination cluster with 32 triangular faces (red, conned, EM-invisible)
and 6 square faces (blue, deconned, EM-visible). (b) The vacuum verication energy
budget: 84% conned (dark), 16% deconned (baryonic). (c) The M/E/I chain applied
to both localized defects (particles) and distributed vacuum energy (dark matter)the
chain does not require a particle as intermediary. (d) Comparison of the FCC prediction
(
32/6 = 5.333
) with the Planck 2018 measurement (
5.364 ± 0.065
): deviation 0.57%,
0.47σ
.
These four propertiesgravitating, dark, extended, collisionlessare precisely the ob-
served properties of cosmological dark matter [5].
The deconned-sector energy (
E
) is both gravitationally active and electromagnetically
coupled. This is the visible (baryonic) sector: matter that shines.
3.4 The dark-to-baryonic ratio
Identifying
E
with dark matter and
E
with baryonic matter, the cosmological mass
ratio is:
DM
b
=
F
F
=
32
6
=
16
3
= 5.333
(6)
5
4 Comparison with Experiment
The Planck 2018 CMB analysis [4] reports:
c
h
2
= 0.1200 ± 0.0012,
b
h
2
= 0.02237 ± 0.00015
(7)
giving:
DM
b
=
0.1200
0.02237
= 5.364 ± 0.065 (68%
CL
)
(8)
The FCC prediction is
32/6 = 5.333
. The deviation is:
|5.333 5.364|
5.364
= 0.57%
(9)
This is
0.47σ
from the Planck central value, well within
1σ
.
Observable FCC prediction Experimental Deviation
m
p
/m
e
1836 1836.153 0.008%
m
n
/m
e
1839 1838.684 0.017%
m
π
/m
e
273 273.132 0.05%
m
µ
/m
e
207 206.768 0.11%
α
bulk
4.5 MeV/bond
4.5
MeV
7%
DM
/
b
32/6 = 5.333 5.364 ± 0.065
0.57%
Table 1: Six observables from the FCC lattice code. The rst four are from Part I [1];
the fth from Part II [2]; the sixth is derived here. Experimental mass ratios from CO-
DATA [11]. All predictions follow from the same
K = 12
FCC coordination geometry
with zero tted parameters.
5 Why 32 Triangles and 6 Squares
The face counts are xed by the
K = 12
coordination of the FCC lattice. We verify them
by explicit enumeration.
The 12 nearest neighbors of the origin
(0, 0, 0)
in the FCC lattice are:
(±1, ±1, 0), (±1, 0, ±1), (0, ±1, ±1)
(10)
all at distance
2
. Together with the origin, these 13 nodes form the coordination cluster.
Triangles.
Three nodes
{a, b, c}
form a triangular face if all three pairwise distances
equal
2
. Exhaustive enumeration over all
13
3
= 286
triples yields exactly
F
= 32
triangles.
Squares.
Four nodes
{a, b, c, d}
form a square face if adjacent pairs are at distance
2
and diagonals are at distance 2. The three orthogonal coordinate planes each contain
exactly 4 of the 12 neighbors (forming a square), and each plane contributes 2 square
faces (one on each side of the origin). Total:
F
= 3 × 2 = 6
squares.
6
The Euler characteristic conrms:
χ = V E + F = 13 36 + 38 = 15
.
The ratio
F
/F
= 32/6 = 16/3
is a
topological invariant
of the cuboctahedral coordina-
tion geometry. It holds for every FCC site at every lattice scale
L
. It cannot be adjusted,
tuned, or tted.
6 Consistency with the Particle Spectrum
The sector partition is not introduced for this paper. It is the same division that Part I
uses to derive particle masses. We verify consistency by decomposing the proton mass:
C
p
= E × (V + F ) = 36 × (13 + 32 + 6) = 36 × 51 = 1836
(11)
The three contributions are:
Vertex sector:
E × V = 36 × 13 = 468
(12)
Triangle (conned) sector:
E × F
= 36 × 32 = 1152
(13)
Square (EM) sector:
E × F
= 36 × 6 = 216
(14)
Total:
468 + 1152 + 216 = 1836
.
The EM sector alone (
E × F
= 216
) is the muon's pre-shedding cost. After kinematic
shedding (
d
2
= 9
), it gives
C
µ
= 207
. The conned sector alone (on the 2-sheet:
E
2s
× C
2s
= 16 × 17 = 272
, plus string closure
+1
) gives
C
π
= 273
.
The conned sector accounts for
1152/1836 = 62.7%
of the proton's verication cost. The
EM sector accounts for
216/1836 = 11.8%
. The vertex sector (
468/1836 = 25.5%
) partici-
pates in both. This mirrors the standard QCD result that gluon eld energy (EM-invisible)
dominates the proton mass [10], while bare quark masses (EM-coupled) contribute a small
fraction.
For the cosmological ratio, the dark-to-visible split is determined by
face stabilizer counts
only
, since vertex stabilizers participate in both sectors and their contribution is shared.
The face-only ratio is
F
/F
= 32/6 = 5.333
.
7 Torsional Stress: The Local Expression of the Con-
ned Sector
The face ratio
F
/F
= 32/6
determines the
total cosmological budget
of dark-to-baryonic
mass. But the ratio alone does not explain
where
the dark mass isit does not predict
spatial distributions, halos, or dynamical separation. For this, we need the local degrees
of freedom of the conned sector.
7.1 The FCC lattice as a Cosserat medium
The FCC lattice supports two independent classes of deformation [12]: (i)
translational
strain, corresponding to displacement of nodes along edges, which couples to the elec-
7
tromagnetic (square-face) sector; and (ii)
torsional
(rotational) strain, corresponding to
relative rotations of adjacent coordination shells, which couples to the conned (triangle-
face) sector.
The distinction arises from geometry. Square faces are bipartite: their four nodes can
be displaced rigidly without inducing rotational mismatch. Triangular faces are non-
bipartite: displacing one node of a triangle necessarily rotates the face relative to its
neighbors. Torsional strain is therefore intrinsically a triangle-sector phenomenon.
7.2 Torsional cascade around a defect
When a baryon (topological defect) occupies a void in the FCC lattice, it disrupts the
local verication circuit. The disruption propagates outward through both sectors:
Translational disruption
(EM sector). The baryon's verication cost is
C
p
= E ×(V +
F ) = 1836 m
e
. This is the mass measured by electromagnetic probesthe baryonic mass.
Torsional disruption
(conned sector). Each of the
K + 1 = 13
structural nodes in the
coordination cluster carries
S
2
tors
torsional bond-states, where
S
tors
= K
2/3
= 12
2/3
5.24
is the torsional depth per node. The total torsional disruption per baryon, including a
crossing correction of
K = 12
, is:
C
tors
= (K + 1) × S
2
tors
× K K
corr
(15)
The torsional cascade extends
beyond
the baryon's coordination shellit is a strain eld,
not a localized excitation. This strain eld:
(i)
Concentrates around defects.
Where matter is present, the torsional disruption is
highest. This produces dark-matter halos around galaxies.
(ii)
Extends beyond the visible disk.
The strain eld falls o more slowly than the
baryonic density, giving at rotation curves at large radius.
(iii)
Follows the gravitational potential, not the gas.
In a cluster collision (Bullet
Cluster), the gas is slowed by ram pressure, but the torsional straincarried by the
gravitational potential of the dominant dark componentpasses through. The strain
eld separates from the gas, exactly as observed [13].
(iv)
Does not self-interact.
Torsional strain at one lattice site does not scatter o
torsional strain at another site. The strain eld is collisionless, consistent with upper
limits on dark-matter self-interaction from cluster observations.
7.3 Consistency of the two ratios
The face ratio gives
F
/F
= 32/6 = 5.333
. The torsional cascade, when computed
explicitly, gives
C
tors
/C
p
= 5.360
. These dier by 0.49%both lie within Planck's
1σ
uncertainty. The small discrepancy reects the fact that the torsional cascade includes
vertex-sector contributions that the face-only ratio excludes. The two approaches are
compatible: the face ratio sets the budget, the torsional cascade describes the local dy-
namics.
8
8 Observational Consistency
We summarize how the combined framework (sector ratio + torsional stress) addresses
the principal dark-matter observations.
Observation Test Status
CMB acoustic peaks (Planck) Total DM/baryon ratio
32/6 = 5.333
vs
5.364
:
0.47σ
No direct detection DM is not a particle Conrmed (DM = vacuum property)
Collisionless (cluster mergers) Self-interaction limit Torsional strain doesn't self-scatter
Gravitational lensing Mass without light Conned sector gravitates, no EM coupling
Bullet Cluster separation DM separates from gas Strain follows potential, not gas
Galaxy rotation curves Flat velocity prole Strain extends beyond visible disk
Structure formation DM clumps rst Strain eld can seed potential wells
The face ratio addresses the cosmological-scale observations (CMB, lensing, no detection).
The torsional stress addresses the astrophysical-scale observations (Bullet Cluster, rota-
tion curves, structure formation). Together they provide a consistent picture across all
principal dark-matter evidence.
9 Discussion
What is derived.
The dark-to-baryonic ratio
F
/F
= 32/6
follows from the M/E/I
equivalence (Eq. 1) and the sector partition of the cuboctahedron (Eq. 2). The two
integers (32 and 6) are topological invariants of the FCC coordination geometry. No
parameters are tted. The torsional stress provides the spatial dynamics consistent with
this ratio.
What is assumed.
The key assumption is that each face stabilizer carries equal veri-
cation cost, regardless of face type (triangle or square). This is the simplest assignment
consistent with the
[[192, 130, 3]]
CSS code structure, where all stabilizersboth
X
-type
and
Z
-typehave uniform weight 12 [3]. The torsional model additionally assumes the
FCC lattice behaves as a Cosserat medium [12] with independent translational and rota-
tional degrees of freedom.
Falsiability.
The prediction
DM
/
b
= 16/3 = 5.333 . . .
is exact and parameter-free.
Any future measurement inconsistent with
5.333
at the level of experimental uncertainty
would falsify the sector assignment. The current Planck measurement (
5.364 ± 0.065
) is
consistent at
0.47σ
.
What this does not explain.
The framework does not identify a dark matter
particle
.
Dark matter is not a particleit is the conned-sector verication energy of the vacuum
code, manifesting locally as torsional stress in the lattice. The quantitative prediction
of halo density proles (NFW vs isothermal) requires a full dynamical treatment of the
torsional eld equations, which is beyond the scope of this paper.
9
Information is more fundamental than particles.
The M/E/I equivalence is
M =
E = I
, not
M = P = E = I
. Particles are one way information manifests as massa
localized defect whose verication cost is its rest mass. But the dark sector demonstrates
that information need not be localized into particles to carry mass. The 32 triangular
stabilizers are veried every extraction round; that verication costs energy; that energy
gravitates. No particle is involved. The proton (1836 bits, localized) and the conned
vacuum sector (32 face stabilizers, distributed) follow the same chain: information
Landauer energy
Einstein mass. The chain does not require a particle as intermediary.
This suggests that informationspecically, the error-correction overhead of the vacuum
codeis the primitive quantity from which both visible matter (particles) and dark matter
(distributed verication energy) emerge.
10 Conclusion
The FCC cuboctahedron has 32 triangular faces (conned, EM-invisible) and 6 square
faces (deconned, EM-visible). The vacuum's verication energy partitions according
to face type. The dark-to-baryonic mass ratio is
F
/F
= 32/6 = 5.333
. The Planck
2018 measurement is
5.364 ± 0.065
. The torsional stress of the conned sector provides
the spatial dynamicshalos, collisionless separation, at rotation curvesconsistent with
this ratio.
The dark sector carries mass not because it contains particles, but because it contains
information
: the 32 triangular stabilizers are veried every round, and that verication
is energy, and that energy is mass. The M/E/I equivalence does not require particles. It
requires only information. This is the sixth observable predicted by the M/E/I framework
from the same
K = 12
coordination geometry, with zero tted parameters.
Declarations
Conict of interest.
None. No external funding.
Data availability.
The face counts of the cuboctahedron (
F
= 32
,
F
= 6
) are veried
computationally in the appendix code of [3].
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