PROJECT_SCOPE.txt
Charge Boundary Routing I
Fractional Charge as Confined Route, Integer Charge as External Closure

UNNS Substrate Research Program
Project code: CBR-I

1. PURPOSE

This project investigates electric charge through the UNNS boundary-routing lens.

It asks whether the empirical separation between externally observable charge and confined fractional charge can be modeled as a structural route boundary:

    externally observable charge -> integer or neutral closure
    fractional charge -> confined internal route coordinate
    free fractional charge -> absent, constrained, or non-externalized boundary case

The project is intentionally small and staged. It is not a full theory of electric charge and not a replacement for the Standard Model, Grand Unified Theories, or quantum field theory. It is a UNNS empirical pilot designed to identify whether a charge-boundary pattern exists in known particle data.

2. PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTION

    Does external charge observability coincide with charge-boundary closure?

More specifically:

    Are externally free charge states integer or neutral,
    while fractional charges occur only as confined internal coordinates
    or as non-observed boundary cases?

3. ALIGNMENT WITH PRIOR UNNS WORK

This project extends the boundary-routing logic used in the UNNS manuscripts on stellar and cosmological boundary dynamics.

Prior boundary-routing pattern:

    A structural boundary does not necessarily destroy admissibility.
    It can route a system into terminal approach, turning-locus continuation,
    boundary recession, branching, or recovery.

Charge-boundary analogue:

    Fractional charge reaches a free-externalization boundary.
    Instead of appearing as an isolated free charge state, it is routed into
    confined composite closure.

4. IN SCOPE

The project includes:

    - PDG-sourced particle charge summary data.
    - A small Phase 1 mini-corpus organized by charge boundary role.
    - Classification of particles and candidate cases into UNNS route classes.
    - Later numeric ladder construction for STRUC-PERC-I and STRUC-I analysis.
    - Comparison of external integer/neutral closure, confined fractional charge,
      composite closure, and boundary absence.

5. OUT OF SCOPE FOR PHASE 1

The following are intentionally excluded from Phase 1:

    - Full PDG particle database reproduction.
    - Complete decay-mode database.
    - Mass, lifetime, width, branching-fraction analysis.
    - Full gauge-representation analysis.
    - Full GUT model comparison.
    - High-energy unification derivation.
    - Claims that the final law of charge has been solved.

These may become later phases only if the Phase 1 boundary classification produces a clear structural signal.

6. PHASE 1 STRUCTURE

Phase 1 is named:

    Charge Boundary Classification

It contains four layers.

Layer A — Primitive External Charge Closures

    Question:
        What charges appear among externally observable, non-confined primitive particles?

    Source examples:
        PDG 2026 Leptons summary table.
        PDG 2026 Gauge and Higgs Bosons summary table.

    Expected result:
        Q/e in {-1, 0, +1}.

Layer B — Confined Fractional Coordinates

    Question:
        What charges appear in quarks, and are they externally free?

    Source examples:
        PDG 2026 Quarks summary table.

    Expected result:
        Q/e in {-2/3, -1/3, +1/3, +2/3}, confined/non-free.

Layer C — Composite Closures

    Question:
        Do quark-level fractional components close into integer or neutral observable hadrons?

    Source examples:
        PDG 2026 Mesons and Baryons summary tables.

    Expected result:
        composite external Q/e in integers or 0.

Layer D — Boundary Absences and Non-Observed Cases

    Question:
        What candidate charge states are searched for but not externally confirmed?

    Source examples:
        free quark searches, fractionally charged particle searches,
        magnetic monopole searches, millicharged particle constraints.

    Expected result:
        boundary absences or unresolved dual cases.

7. CANONICAL CLASSIFICATION VOCABULARY

Closure classes:

    FREE_INTEGER_CLOSURE
    FREE_NEUTRAL_CLOSURE
    INTERNAL_FRACTIONAL_COORDINATE
    CONFINED_FRACTIONAL_ROUTE
    COMPOSITE_INTEGER_CLOSURE
    COMPOSITE_NEUTRAL_CLOSURE
    TERMINAL_FREE_FRACTIONAL
    UNRESOLVED_DUAL_BOUNDARY
    CONSTRAINED_EXOTIC_BOUNDARY

Route classes:

    EXTERNAL_CLOSURE
    INTERNAL_ROUTE
    CONFINED_ROUTE
    COMPOSITE_CLOSURE
    BOUNDARY_ABSENCE
    DUAL_BOUNDARY_CANDIDATE

8. DATA PRINCIPLES

All canonical rows should preserve source provenance.

Required source fields:

    source_file
    source_section
    source_note

The raw source file must remain unchanged in:

    data/raw/pdg/

Cleaned/canonical data belongs in:

    data/canonical/

Derived or classified outputs belong in:

    data/derived/

Numeric chamber ladders belong in:

    ladders/

Chamber results belong in:

    results/struc_perc_i/
    results/struc_i/

9. USE OF STRUC-PERC-I AND STRUC-I

The chambers are not used directly on raw PDG tables.

Step order:

    1. Build canonical charge-boundary corpus.
    2. Convert corpus entries into ordered numeric ladder encodings.
    3. Run STRUC-PERC-I for connectivity/percolation screening.
    4. Run STRUC-I for admissibility-pressure analysis.
    5. Compare results across Layers A, B, C, and D.

STRUC-PERC-I answers:

    Does the encoded charge-route ladder percolate or fragment?

STRUC-I answers:

    Does the ladder remain admissible under perturbation pressure?

10. ACCEPTABLE PHASE 1 CLAIM

The strongest acceptable Phase 1 claim is:

    The Phase 1 mini-corpus supports a charge-boundary classification in which
    externally free primitive charges occupy integer or neutral closure classes,
    while fractional charges are confined internal coordinates or non-externalized
    boundary cases.

11. CLAIMS NOT ALLOWED AT PHASE 1

Do not claim:

    - UNNS has solved charge quantization.
    - The Standard Model has been replaced.
    - GUTs are unnecessary or falsified.
    - Magnetic monopoles are impossible.
    - Fractional charges cannot exist in any beyond-Standard-Model setting.

Allowed wording:

    - pilot corpus
    - boundary classification
    - structural hypothesis
    - empirical foothold
    - route-boundary interpretation
    - candidate admissibility principle

12. IMMEDIATE NEXT WORK ITEM

Next file to build:

    data/canonical/phase1_layerB_confined_fractional.csv

Required raw source:

    data/raw/pdg/rpp2026-sum-quarks.pdf

Layer B will make the first real boundary contrast with Layer A.
