{
  "id": "QCD-02",
  "uri": "https://cosmological-constant.org/claims/#QCD-02",
  "record_type": "Scientific claim",
  "status": "Selected",
  "dependencies": [
    "QCD-01"
  ],
  "downstream_claims": [
    "FOLD-01",
    "FOLD-02",
    "NUM-01",
    "CMP-01"
  ],
  "technical_statement": "Within the declared QCD-endpoint candidate class, the proton is selected as the infrared endpoint because it is the lightest colour-singlet hadronic state with a scheme-independent physical pole mass that is stable in the full zero-temperature Standard Model, and it directly carries the normalised trace charge <p|T^mu_mu|p>=2 m_p^2; the neutron and eta-prime lie numerically close but fail the stability criterion, and the quoted pure-Yang-Mills glueball scale is not a full-Standard-Model asymptotic pole.",
  "public_statement": "The strict QCD endpoint is the proton: the lightest stable hadronic colour-singlet pole satisfying the stated zero-temperature source criteria.",
  "qualifier": "A selected matching criterion, physically motivated by confinement, stability and the QCD-generated trace scale; not a theorem that quantum gravity must choose the proton pole.",
  "source_in_paper": "CC Paper I v1.0, Secs. 8, 10, 13 and Appendix D",
  "external_foundations": "PDG2026; Ji1995; Yang2018; Bhattacharya2014; MorningstarPeardon1999; Wang2024; Tanaka2025; Bollweg2026",
  "limits_open_issues": "The endpoint criteria are selected channel criteria, not a theorem of every gravitational trace source; the choice does not assert proton dominance of the full trace spectral function.",
  "relations": "",
  "version_history": "v1.2; v1.3 (2026-08-01): trace-charge criterion made explicit; near-miss exclusions noted.; v1.4 (2026-08-03): qualifier states the endpoint rule as a selected matching criterion, not a theorem of quantum gravity.; v1.6 (2026-08-08): hadronic/QCD-endpoint candidate class made explicit in both statements; the previous unrestricted wording ranged beyond the intended QCD endpoint class",
  "register_version": "v1.6"
}