Evidence for Continuous Photon Energy Loss via a Three-Loop Higgs Interaction

Abstract

We present the evidence for a cosmology in which photons lose energy continuously through a three-loop forward-scattering interaction with the Higgs field vacuum, producing both redshift and time dilation without spatial expansion. The same three-loop amplitude reproduces the Higgs-to-two-photon decay rate to within 0.8 percent. Three quantities follow from measured Standard Model constants (alpha, m_e, v, M_Pl) with no adjustable parameters: the effective Hubble constant H_eff = 72.5 km/s/Mpc (0.52 sigma from the distance-ladder value); the cosmic microwave background temperature T_CMB = 2.68 K (98 percent of the observed 2.725 K); and the condensation threshold E_c = m_e alpha^5. A single phenomenological input, the non-minimal Higgs-gravity coupling, is conceded explicitly in a parameter-classification table on the first page. The five cosmic microwave background acoustic-peak positions are matched to 1-3 percent using two scales inherited from the clustering measurement, and the four light-element abundances (Deuterium, Helium-3, Helium-4, Lithium-7) are reproduced as steady-state equilibria. We give five falsifiability conditions and eleven testable predictions with their current status, and an honest inventory of where the framework falls short. The unWISE lensing amplitude ratio favors the tired-light kernel (4.7 percent versus 7.9 percent for Lambda-CDM); a Euclid Q1 depth-dependence test is currently non-discriminating (jackknife delta-chi-squared approximately -2, 1.4 sigma), the decisive measurement lying at redshift greater than 4. The universe is far older than 13.8 billion years, a lower bound only and possibly unbounded. This paper is the evidence-first summary; the full derivation chain, the extended steady-state framework, and all technical appendices appear in the companion archive on Zenodo (version DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20773635, concept DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18517188).

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