Appendix
Technical Glossary
Brief definitions with the scientific origin of each term used in the theory, separating borrowed vocabulary from the author's neologisms.
- Three-dimensional sphere (S³)
- Closed hypersurface of constant positive curvature, the three-dimensional boundary of a 4D ball. Standard metric used in FLRW cosmological models with k>0.
- Bulk
- Term from brane physics for the higher-dimensional space in which a submanifold is embedded (Randall–Sundrum, AdS/CFT). Used here as the absolute vacuum external to the hyperspheres.
- Holographic Principle
- Conjecture by 't Hooft and Susskind: all the information in a volume can be encoded on its boundary. Formalized in AdS/CFT (Maldacena 1998).
- Bekenstein–Hawking entropy
- S = A/(4ℓ_P²): the entropy of a horizon is proportional to one quarter of its area in Planck units. Originally derived for black holes.
- Minkowski spacetime
- 4D pseudo-Euclidean manifold of Special Relativity. Support of the eternalist 'block universe', in which past, present and future coexist.
- ER=EPR
- Maldacena–Susskind 2013 conjecture: entangled pairs (EPR) are connected by Einstein–Rosen bridges at the Planck scale. Does not allow classical communication.
- Zero-Point Energy (ZPE)
- Residual energy of a quantum system in its ground state. Manifests in the Casimir effect (1948) and the dynamical Casimir effect (Wilson et al. 2011). Cyclic extraction is barred not by the 1st law but because the vacuum is the fundamental state by definition and Kelvin–Planck forbids a cycle with a single minimum-energy reservoir.
- Schumann resonance
- Electromagnetic modes of the Earth–ionosphere cavity, with fundamental at ~7.83 Hz (Schumann 1952). Local geophysical phenomenon, not cosmic.
- Cosmological redshift (z)
- 1+z = a(t₀)/a(t_emit). Stretching of wavelength by the expansion of space, described by the Hubble–Lemaître law.
- Phase Temporal Signature (Ts)
- Term introduced by The Architect's theory to index instants in the hypersphere. Does not correspond to a known physical quantity.
- Grandfather paradox
- Logical scenario of time travel. Discussed solutions: Novikov self-consistency, Hawking's chronology protection conjecture, Deutsch many-worlds.
- Block Universe
- Eternalist interpretation of spacetime: time is a geometric dimension and every event exists statically. Compatible with Relativity.