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April 2026

The Edinburgh Constant and the Phyllotactic Universe

This paper proposes that physics' dimensionless couplings -- including gravity strength, the cosmological constant, and Hubble rate -- are not independent parameters but rather positions on a three-dimensional spiral.

Eric McLean · Independent Researcher, Edinburgh · Pentagon Physics · 26 April 2026 · DOI
160Orders of magnitude
1Testable particle
0Free parameters
1Axiom
Key Results

Physical constants as positions on a phyllotactic spiral

This paper proposes that physics' dimensionless couplings — including gravity strength, the cosmological constant, and Hubble rate — are not independent parameters but rather positions on a three-dimensional spiral. The spiral's pitch matches the divergence angle nature uses to arrange sunflower seeds optimally. The "Edinburgh constant" serves as the spiral's seed, emerging from the framework's geometric structure rather than experimental fitting. The work predicts an axion-like particle at approximately 6×10^-13 electron-volts, testable via CASPEr experiments. The framework reinterprets physical constants as mapped locations within an algebraic field rather than arbitrary fitted values, spanning 160 orders of magnitude of cosmic time.

↗ Read on Zenodo doi:10.5281/zenodo.19795164