The Gauge–Gravity Stratification Sub-Programme

Does the same admissible spectral functional $S_\Pi[g, A] = \tfrac{1}{2}\log\det' A_{g, A}$, extended to include the admissible gauge connection, produce Yang–Mills dynamics alongside Einstein gravity? On supplied geometric and gauge data, yes — at distinct Seeley–DeWitt orders. Its placement on the Cosmochrony emergent base is conditional on [H-L].

Read the synthesis note DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20563349

Overview

The spectral gravity sub-programme (Presentation Note 4) derives the Einstein tensor as the $a_2$ infrared-dominant response of the horizontal metric variation of $S_\Pi[g]$. The gauge structure sub-programme (Presentation Note 3) supplies a conditional compact-group and principal-bundle input; its former full Standard Model group identification is withdrawn. Does the same functional, extended to include the admissible gauge connection, produce Yang–Mills dynamics — and if so, at what spectral order?

On supplied geometric and gauge data, the answer is yes, and the order is $a_4$. Gravity and gauge dynamics arise from the same functional by varying in orthogonal directions — horizontal (metric) and vertical (gauge connection) — at different Seeley–DeWitt orders. The conventional question "what symmetry unifies gravity and gauge?" is thereby replaced by "at what spectral order does the admissible projection respond?". This is the spectral stratification principle: $a_2 \to$ gravity, $a_4 \to$ Yang–Mills, $a_6 \to$ gauge–gravity mixing. The Yang–Mills equations $D_\mu F^{a\mu\nu} = 0$ follow from the $a_4$ vertical variation (Q12); the conditional coupled Einstein–Yang–Mills system follows from the joint variation (Q13), with the couplings entering as independent renormalization data.

Stratification, not unification. What the expansion fixes is the difference in ultraviolet divergence degree between the sectors — quadratic at $a_2$, logarithmic at $a_4$, within a proper-time cutoff — and not the finite couplings, which remain renormalization data. The difficulty of reconciling gravity with the gauge-theoretic Standard Model may reflect a difference of spectral order rather than the absence of a common symmetry group $G_{\mathrm{unif}}$.

The spectral stratification chain

$\underbrace{a_2 \to G_{\mu\nu}}_{\text{horizontal } \delta_g} \;\Big|\; \underbrace{a_4 \to D_\mu F^{a\mu\nu} = 0}_{\text{vertical } \delta_A} \;\Big|\; \underbrace{a_6 \to \text{mixed invariants}}_{\text{inventory only}}$

Four conceptual stages from the single functional $S_\Pi[g, A] = \tfrac{1}{2}\log\det' A_{g, A}$: extension of the operator to the gauge sector with fixed-metric isolation of the gauge sector (Q12 Lemma 1; full horizontal–vertical decoupling does not hold, the metric variation of $F^2$ being the $a_4$ back-reaction $T^{\mathrm{YM}}$); Yang–Mills equations from the vertical $a_4$ variation (Q12 Theorem 1, structural given $G_\Pi$); conditional coupled Einstein–Yang–Mills system from the joint variation (Q13), with $G_N$, $g_{\mathrm{YM}}$ and the cosmological coefficient as independent renormalization matching data rather than predictions.

Papers of the sub-programme

Yang–Mills from the vertical $a_4$ variation.

Joint Einstein–Yang–Mills system and hierarchy.

Inputs and outputs

Upstream inputs. Spectral entropy functional $S_\Pi[g]$ and its $a_2$ Einstein sector from the spectral gravity sub-programme (Presentation Note 4, Gravity 3.0); a supplied compact gauge group, representation and admissible principal bundle as explicit hypotheses of Q12–Q13; a supplied base metric for the theorem-level calculations, whose identification with the effective Lorentzian manifold $(M,g^{\mu\nu}=2\eta^{\mu\nu})$ from the emergent geometry sub-programme is conditional on [H-L]; the spectral length scale $\ell_{\mathrm{sp}}$ and BI saturation constant $c_\chi$ (Branch I); and the renormalized matching data ($G_N$, $g_{\mathrm{YM}}$, the cosmological coefficient) supplied from outside the expansion.

Outputs. Yang–Mills equations $D_\mu F^{a\mu\nu} = 0$ in the current-free sector (SM phenomenology); the conditional coupled $G_{\mu\nu} + \Lambda_{\mathrm{eff}} g_{\mu\nu} = 8\pi G_N T^{\mathrm{YM}}_{\mu\nu}$ (Q13); an inventory of the $a_6$ invariants (future precision tests, coefficients not determined); the spectral prediction that fermionic structure should appear at a dedicated Dirac-type spectral level — the direct structural motivation for the fermionic matter sub-programme (Presentation Note 6, Q14).

Status

On supplied geometric and gauge data, the bosonic calculations are closed conditionally on matching. Their interpretation on the Cosmochrony emergent base is conditional on [H-L]. The $a_4$ heat-kernel derivation of Yang–Mills (Q12) is proved, as is the metric variation giving $2\tau_{\mu\nu}$ (Q13). The fixed-metric vertical variation isolates the gauge sector (Q12 Lemma 1), but full horizontal–vertical decoupling does not hold. The coupled Einstein–Yang–Mills system (Q13) is conditional on the matched coefficients: $G_N$, $g_{\mathrm{YM}}$ and the cosmological coefficient are independent renormalization data, so no numerical value for $G_N g_{\mathrm{YM}}^2$ is claimed. The $a_6$ sector is an inventory only, and no non-linear completion of the joint functional is asserted. O31 version 2.0 withdraws the former colour and complete-group input. The $a_4$ Yang–Mills derivation is therefore conditional on a separately supplied compact group and representation. Open items: group identification, the $a_6$ coefficients, whether admissibility constrains any combination of the matching data, a non-linear completion of the joint functional, the Lorentzian continuation of the gauge sector, and the coupled equations with fermionic matter currents from Note 6 (Q14).