Special and General Relativity from the Finite-QEC Substrate: The Propagation Clock, the Equivalence Principle, and the Horizon Ledger

Abstract

Corrected version. This revision retracts the physical identification of the nearest-neighbour simple-cubic Bloch mode with the asymptotic photon. The exact Bloch group velocity is excluded inside its own 10-100 MeV support by Fermi GRB 090510 timing: the effective quadratic scale is 1.15-1.99 GeV, versus a conservative same-band operative bound above 9.96 x 10^7 GeV. The published all-photon limit above 1.3 x 10^11 GeV is retained as a benchmark, not applied unchanged to the former piecewise model. The Ward-transverse rank-two Maxwell kernel remains valid, as does the exclusion of the raw K6 T1u/Eg branch. A detection-conditioned split between coherent Bloch propagation and detected null-chain propagation is also rejected by linearity. The framed null-chain construction remains a candidate external representation at its stated Ward/LSZ grade, but no replacement physical photon representation is adopted. Universal null propagation would be a disclosed representation premise, not an emergent result. The deposit contains the corrected paper, source and correction notice; the 15-check GRB computation and results; the representation-consistency scope; and a scoped direct-dependency audit of five named registered-result bundles.