SS-5: Light-Nuclei Binding Energies from the Open-Vertex Cascade

Abstract: SS-5 derives a zero-parameter closed-form binding-energy formula for light nuclei A = 2, 3, 4 from the 600-cell lattice. The mechanism is base-to-base bonding of hybrid-tetrahedral nucleons via three quark-quark DP chains across the triangular contact face, with the K_3 face structure collapsing the three pairs to one collective mode at B_pair = M_0/phi = 2.342 MeV. Closed-polytope cascade multiplies each np-pair binding by (A-1), Coulomb and a Pauli penalty per like-nucleon pair follow standard EM, and at A=4 the closed tetrahedral polytope activates an additional B_pair binding. Leading-order predictions: deuteron 2.342 MeV (+5.3%), triton 8.474 MeV (-0.09%), ³He 7.642 MeV (-1.0%), ⁴He 27.904 MeV (-1.4%), with ⁵He, ⁵Li, ⁸Be correctly predicted as unbound including the observed 92 keV near-threshold of ⁸Be. Seven independent predictions emerge from one formula with no fitted nuclear input.