The Isotropic Initial State: How Quantum-Geometry Dynamics Dissolves the Foundational Problems of Standard Cosmology
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The three foundational problems of standard cosmology — the horizon problem, the flatness problem, and the cosmological constant problem — are standardly treated as independent empirical puzzles each requiring its own solution. This paper argues that they share a single cause: the import of a continuous spatial manifold with a singular initial state. When the foundational assumption is replaced — when space is constituted not by a smooth Riemannian manifold but by a finite discrete preonic structure, as in Quantum-Geometry Dynamics (QGD) — all three problems are dissolved simultaneously, not by separate mechanisms but by the removal of their common cause. The initial state of the QGD universe is a uniform isotropic preonic configuration: every preon(−) has the same occupation probability (either occupied by exactly one preon(+) or unoccupied, with uniform probability ρ₀ = N⁺_total/N⁻_total), there is no preferred direction, and there is no singularity. The horizon problem cannot arise because the initial preonic isotropy is not a fine-tuned coincidence but the unique state of minimum complexity consistent with the QGD axioms. The flatness problem cannot arise because a uniform isotropic initial preonic state corresponds precisely to flat spatial geometry in the emergent large-scale description. The cosmological constant problem cannot arise in its standard form because there is no continuum of vacuum field modes whose zero-point energies generate a divergent vacuum energy; the observed accelerated expansion is accounted for by n-gravity — the repulsive force between preons(−) at large separations — whose effective cosmological constant is determined by the QGD coupling constants rather than fine-tuned. The inflationary program is shown to be a response to problems generated by the continuum rather than to independently motivated physical puzzles: each inflationary mechanism introduces additional non-minimal assumptions that are not derivable from the inflationary framework’s own axioms, and the fine-tuning of the inflaton potential is comparable to the fine-tuning it was introduced to remove. Structure formation in QGD proceeds from discrete preonic fluctuations amplified by p-gravity, producing a near-scale-invariant perturbation spectrum consistent with CMB observations without an inflationary phase. The Hubble tension is identified as a further symptom of the continuum framework and is assessed within the QGD account of cosmic expansion driven by n-gravity.
Author: Burnstein, Daniel
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7157956504
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