Epistemic Inventory and Taxonomy of Claims

Abstract

Description Here we present three companion documents for the program corpus listed below. The Taxonomy of Claims lists the theory's claims and assigns each one a status. The claims are grouped in four tiers: Framework (the laws and constants, which the theory does not derive), Derived from Framework (quantities computed from the framework, not independent inputs – including the per-edge failure probability p = ln 2/(2π²) and its spin-foam status, the bare-edge rule, and the tensor consistency relation n_t = n_s − 1), Pre-history (derived properties that are the same in any realization), and History (properties specific to our universe). A set of notes covers the counting conventions, the ensemble rule, the correspondence ledger, the anchor question and its resolution, several associations recorded without claim status, and a closing statement of the one assumption the theory requires. The Epistemic Inventory (What the Theory Claims to Know) contains the same material organized by question. Some fifty questions – why the cosmological constant is small, why w = −1, where the spectral tilt comes from, whether there are primordial gravitational waves, what preceded the first moment, why these constants – are each given the theory's answer in plain language and a status: derived, identified, dissolved, partial, or not claimed. The final section lists the questions the theory does not claim to answer. A Second Revision of the Tensor-to-Scalar Ratio (the revision note, new in this version) revises the tensor prediction following an internal audit of the corpus and states it in the convention experiments report: a standard flat-template B-mode analysis will report r = 0.0318 ± 0.001, just under the current combined limit r < 0.032; the underlying physical ratio, the same at every scale, is 0.0301 ± 0.001, superseding 0.0339. The same revision fixes the tensor tilt by an exact consistency relation, n_t = n_s − 1 = −0.0351, and withdraws α_s as a physical prediction. The note carries the complete derivations in its appendices, reproducible from the stated definitions; the taxonomy and inventory are updated to match. The falsification conditions for the corpus are collected separately in the predictions letter (revised to rev5 in step with this version) and are not repeated in these documents. All documents will be maintained: new versions will record changes in the status of claims, including withdrawals. The program corpus: The Last Evaporation: Planck Remnants as Cosmological Seeds in Empty Spacetime - 10.5281/zenodo.19324262 Cosmological Structure Without Inflation: The Perturbation Spectrum from Pre-Geometric Construction - 10.5281/zenodo.19513896 One-Loop Identities on the S4 Instanton - 10.5281/zenodo.20045607 The Ignition Transition: From the No-Boundary Saddle to Radiation Domination - 10.5281/zenodo.20559451 The Ignition Inventory: Defect Energy and Static Topology - 10.5281/zenodo.20559916 Cosmology from a Three-Bit Seed: The Predictions and Their Falsification Gates - 10.5281/zenodo.21270529