Defect Entry and Multiplihedral Yang–Mills Conversion
Record
Date: 2026-08-14
Status: conditional chain-level construction at low arity; local Ward interval and quartic multiplihedral boundary structure identified. Full all-arity sourced first-jet/BRST lift remains unproved.
Claim
Off the momentum-conserving scattering locus, the ordinary Parke–Taylor/Koba–Nielsen presentation loses identities that normally depend on
[ \sum_{j\neq i}s_{ij}=0. ]
Introduce a weighted defect puncture (\infty) carrying
[ q_\infty=-Q, \qquad q_\infty^2=Q^2. ]
The stable divisors in which ordinary puncture (i) meets the defect puncture carry
[ \delta_i=(Q-p_i)^2=Q^2-r_i. ]
Over characteristic zero,
[ 0 \longrightarrow V_n \longrightarrow \widetilde V_n \xrightarrow{\delta} \Bbbk^n \longrightarrow0 ]
after retaining the primitive mass relation
[ \sum_i\delta_i=(n-2)Q^2. ]
At four points, two familiar failures lie in the same defect normal:
[ a(\rho)=\delta_4, ]
for photon decoupling, and
[ a(\beta)=s_{12}\delta_4 ]
for BCJ.
They are therefore modeled by one defect-normal interval
[ K_{E_4}^{FT}
[ R\ell_4 \xrightarrow{\delta_4} Re_4 ]. ]
For scalar scaffolding, fuse two scalar momenta (a,b) into
[ p=a+b, \qquad \epsilon=b-a. ]
The two natural defect endpoints of the local gauge-orbit interval are
[ q=-Q, \qquad r=Q-p. ]
Their scalar weights satisfy
[ q^2=Q^2, \qquad r^2=\delta_i, ]
and
[ r^2-q^2=-2Q!\cdot p. ]
The Yang–Mills cubic Ward identity is
[ p^\mu V_{\mu\nu\rho}(p,q,r)
P_{\nu\rho}(r)-P_{\nu\rho}(q), ]
where
[ P_{\nu\rho}(k)
k^2\eta_{\nu\rho}-k_\nu k_\rho. ]
Thus the local scalar defect interval maps to the Ward interval by the endpoint replacement
[ k^2 \mapsto P(k). ]
At quartic order, the contact Ward identity is the difference of two cubic composition routes. Its six boundary terms are not supplied by an ordinary rank-two associahedral face.
The missing parameter is the affine scale left unquotiented by nonzero total defect. Introduce scale (y) into the Koba–Nielsen loading:
[ \widetilde U_Q
y^{-\alpha’Q^2} \prod_{i<j}(z_i-z_j)^{\alpha’s_{ij}}. ]
The positive compactification of scaled marked curves is multiplihedral. At the first nontrivial level,
[ J_3 ]
is a hexagon, and its six oriented facets match the six (A_\infty)-morphism terms of quartic scalar-to-YM conversion.
Hence
[ \boxed{ \text{multiplihedron}
\text{carrier of sourced theory-conversion coherence} } ]
at this level.
It is not the carrier of cosmological nesting.
Evidence
The four-point defect identities factor through the same normal (\delta_4).
The cubic Ward equation maps the difference of endpoint scalar inverse propagators to the difference of endpoint transverse inverse propagators.
The quartic color-ordered vertex has the tensor coefficient pattern
[ (-1,2,-1) ]
required for the difference of the two cubic Ward routes.
The rank-two scalar associahedral faces are squares or pentagons, so no ordinary scalar face can supply the required six-term boundary.
Retaining scale produces the (J_3) hexagon, whose oriented boundary has exactly six terms with the (A_\infty)-morphism combinatorics.
This entry reconstructs the analytical low-arity result. A standalone all-arity checker is not yet attached.
Boundary
Do not infer:
- that multiplihedra encode cosmological nested regions;
- that the full sourced Yang–Mills theory has been derived at all arities;
- that the scalar first jet has already been lifted to a complete off-shell BRST complex;
- that weighted defect punctures are ordinary physical external particles.
The multiplihedron belongs to the conversion fiber.
Cosmological nesting remains in the Matryoshka/flag base.
A combined carrier may therefore have the form
[ \operatorname*{hocolim}{H\in\operatorname{Mat}(G)} \prod{R\in H}J_{\operatorname{arity}(R)}, ]
but this global formula remains conjectural.
Consequence
The defect does not force an external gauge-restoration term at cubic level.
The next falsifier is the mixed partial-energy/first-jet square: test whether the cosmological energy Gysin operation maps canonically into Ward transport and whether any residual tree obstruction survives away from soft support.
Outcome contract
{
"claim": "Off momentum conservation, scalar/PT failures are organized by defect normals associated with a weighted closing puncture. The local scalar defect interval maps to the cubic Ward interval, and quartic scalar-to-YM conversion coherence is multiplihedral once the unquotiented scale is retained.",
"status": "conditional",
"assumptions": [
"Low-arity finite defect and Ward models are used.",
"The weighted closing puncture and scale compactification are retained.",
"An all-arity sourced first-jet/BRST theorem is not claimed."
],
"evidence_refs": [
"retrospective four-point defect calculation",
"cubic Ward identity",
"quartic J3 boundary audit"
],
"factorization_test": {
"four_point_defect_normal": "passed analytically",
"cubic_scalar_to_Ward_interval": "passed",
"quartic_six_term_boundary": "passed at combinatorial symbol level",
"all_arity_BRST": "open"
},
"counterevidence": [
"An ordinary rank-two associahedral face cannot provide the six quartic conversion boundaries.",
"Multiplihedron cannot be used as a replacement for cosmological nesting."
],
"next_experiment": "Compose the partial-energy Gysin complex with the first-jet/Ward complex and isolate any residual class away from soft support."
}