Tired Light Theory: A Unified Framework for Dark Matter, Stellar Anomalies, and Cosmic Structure via Higgs Field Interaction

Abstract

We propose a cosmological framework in which photons lose energy through continuous interaction with the Higgs field vacuum, eventually condensing into dark matter. The energy loss occurs via a three-loop forward scattering process — electromagnetic vacuum polarization, Higgs condensate interaction, and gravitational energy transfer — that preserves photon direction, polarization, and coherence (no image blurring). Unlike classical tired light models, this mechanism produces both redshift and time dilation through wave packet stretching, consistent with Type Ia supernova observations. Three quantities are derived from measured Standard Model constants (alpha, m_e, v, M_Pl) with zero free parameters: (1) the effective Hubble constant H_eff = 72.5 km/s/Mpc (0.52 sigma from the distance ladder value); (2) the cosmic microwave background temperature T_CMB = 2.68 K (98% of observed 2.725 K); and (3) the condensation threshold E_c = m_e alpha^5 ~ 10^-5 eV, calibrated against the measured para-positronium annihilation rate. The framework addresses eight observational puzzles: the Hubble tension (predicted rather than fitted), mature high-redshift galaxies observed by the James Webb Space Telescope, the cosmological lithium problem (no Big Bang nucleosynthesis prediction required), the core-cusp discrepancy (cored dark matter profiles from gravitational harvesting), white dwarf cooling anomalies in four globular clusters, the Tolman surface brightness test, the Methuselah star age paradox, and the ARCADE-2 radio excess. Self-consistency requires a minimum universe age of approximately 2,280 billion years. The photon-Higgs interaction is manifestly Lorentz covariant. Ten testable predictions are presented, including a magnetic white dwarf cooling correlation and a cosmic microwave background E-mode polarization correlation with the large-scale velocity field. Cross-correlation analyses using Planck, unWISE, Atacama Cosmology Telescope DR6, and Euclid Q1 data yield a delta-chi-squared = 52 improvement over Lambda-CDM in lensing-galaxy depth dependence.

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