APPENDIX D: GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Cosserat (Micropolar) Continuum:

An extension of standard continuum mechanics where each material point possesses independent rotational degrees of freedom (microrotations) in addition to translation. In SBF, the Void Network is modeled as a Cosserat medium, allowing it to support torsional waves (Electric Fields) and vorticity (Magnetic Fields).

Dilatancy:

The property of a granular material to expand in volume when subjected to shear stress. This occurs because grains must ride up over their neighbors to move. In SBF, this volume expansion reduces the local density of the vacuum, creating the refractive index gradients we perceive as Gravity.

Force Chains:

Filamentary, quasi-one-dimensional structures of stressed grains that carry the majority of the load in a granular system. They transmit tension linearly without lateral spreading. In SBF, these chains constitute the Strong Force and explain color confinement.

Jamming Transition:

The phase transition where a disordered granular assembly behaves like a solid. At the "J-point" (Jamming point), the system becomes rigid but remains disordered. SBF posits the vacuum exists precisely at this critical transition point ($Z \approx 14.4$).

Nematic Jamming:

A phase state where the rotational axes of individual voids or grains spontaneously align, creating long-range orientational order without positional order. In SBF, this is the mechanical origin of Ferromagnetism.

Random Close Packing (RCP):

The maximum density configuration for a disordered packing of hard spheres, characterized by a packing fraction $\phi \approx 0.64$ and a mean coordination number $Z \approx 14.4$.

Self-Organized Criticality (SOC):

A statistical property of dynamical systems that naturally evolve toward a critical state (like a sandpile). SBF posits that the vacuum maintains itself at the jamming transition via SOC, explaining why it is "soft" (responsive to gravity) despite being Planck-scale rigid.

Vacuum Triboluminescence:

The emission of energy (photons) caused by the fracturing or slipping of the vacuum lattice under extreme shear stress. In SBF, this mechanism explains the 20 GeV Gamma-Ray Excess at the Galactic Center as a resonance of the stressed medium rather than particle annihilation.

Void Network:

The continuous network of interstitial spaces (empty volume) between the grains of the contact network. It supports the electromagnetic sector (torsion and vorticity) and the dark sector (neutrinos