Physics Arc — left loop · 5 / 16
§3
The Five Parameters
Not a chain. A pentagram.
Mutually constitutive
The five parameters do not form a pipeline M → E → C, mediated by α, governed by H. They form a pentagram: every parameter is in contact with every other. Remove any one and the others become undefined. No parameter is upstream of any other.
M, C, α
M is the continuous Riemannian substrate — source, infinite resolution, not spacetime. C is discrete rendered geometry — output, experienced reality, the large-scale low-compression limit of the edge. α (π/α ≈ 60) is the fixed-point compression ratio governing conversion M↔C at every scale. It is the crossing point, the hinge, the pivot.
E and H are orthogonal
E, the α-Connection, is structural: WHERE the encoding boundary is, what its geometry is, how it runs the edge process. H, holographic encoding, is nomological: WHY boundary information is sufficient to reconstruct both interiors. A wall is E. A wall does not become a holographic screen until H is operative on its surface. You can have E without H (a boundary with no completeness). You cannot have functional H without E. Conflating them breaks the framework.