The Chemical Gap Layer: Locating the Arena of Matter Coupling and Decoupling (EN)

Abstract

Ontological localization of the arena of chemistry: matter couples and decouples in the gap layer. Four bond types = four forms of gap residence; reactions = gap-residence reconfiguration events; shells = the residence-depth spectrum, ionization energies its depth reading. Four quantitative discriminants pass same-day (NIST 270-level ionization 8/8; two-variable inertness; three bond-energy tests; Sabatier triangle closure 945→95-123 kJ/mol), extended to 25-station biological ET chains (functionalized sweet-spot spectrum) and 3d/4s depth-spectrum rebalancing. v1.1 (2026-09-03): mechanism-deepening update back-filling eight increments: the 4p-series lone-pair jump-amplitude decrease (lone-pair rearrangement upgraded from a 2p special case to a cross-period regularity); the dual-channel inertness criterion finalized (Cl anomaly resolved: IE1 necessary-but-not-sufficient → dual-channel function); the β provenance settled (Davidson 2008: vacuum 2.8 / covalent 0.7; Beratan-group attribution corrected); precise vdW dimer values (spectral-top Xe₂ 2.34 vs chemical-bond spectral-bottom O-O 146 still differ 62× = two separated clusters, not a continuum); bc1 potentials expanded (measured bL −100/−83 mV, not the textbook +90) with coverage at 20/25 stations (90% normal-region, robust); Mg-O polarity-controversy read as three projections (Pauling/Phillips/Bader) of one configuration; a third-chain blind preregistered replication on the nitrogenase FeFe chain (the four-regime table holds across three chains; the famous slow P→FeMo step is conformational gating, not ΔG); a first interval estimate of the gap-formation threshold (35, 65) mV and the D5 discriminant design. All 33 references re-verified: 32 verified + 1 DOI correction (ref. 24 Lucovsky placeholder DOI unregistered → 10.1103/PhysRevB.4.1367).