Density Field Dynamics
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Counted with one rulebook, side by side

Same starting point. Far more explained.

Density Field Dynamics against the standard stack (General Relativity, ΛCDM, inflation and the Standard Model of particle physics), counted the same way, at the same level of detail, by independent counters, over the same fifteen phenomena.

See the scoreboard How it was counted

The scoreboard

Even on assumptions. Ahead on everything else.

Starting assumptions68 vs 69About even
Derived, nothing tuned8 vs 4DFD wins
Simply assumed2 vs 4DFD wins
Tuned free numbers7 vs 35+DFD wins

Starting assumptions

The same number of starting points.

Every statement a theory needs but does not derive: its postulates, its choice of fields and symmetries, the form of each law, its starting conditions, and the rules that link its mathematics to measurements.

DFD
68
Standard stack
69

Same budget. The difference is what each assumption buys.

What each theory explains

Twice as much derived, half as much assumed.

Fifteen phenomena both theories address. Each is graded on its headline result. Derived means predicted with nothing tuned to that result. Fitted means reproduced by setting a number from that result’s own data. Assumed means taken as given and not explained at all.

DFD
852
Standard stack
474
DerivedFittedAssumed

DFD derives eight of the fifteen with nothing tuned. The standard stack derives four.

Free numbers

Seven dials, not thirty-five.

Continuous parameters that have to be set by hand from measurements. The fewer a theory needs, the more of the work it is doing itself.

DFD
7
Standard stack
35
+16 galaxy simulation

About five times fewer numbers set by hand.

Phenomenon by phenomenon

Fifteen questions, two answers.

PhenomenonDFDStandard stack
Solar System tests, gravitational waves, black holesDerivedDerived
The galaxy acceleration scale a0DerivedFitted
Galaxy clusters and the Bullet ClusterDerivedDerived
Expansion rate: both Hubble values, dark energyFittedAssumed
CMB acoustic peaks, including the thirdFittedFitted
Big Bang nucleosynthesisDerivedDerived
Dark matter: what it isDerivedAssumed
The gauge group of particle physicsAssumedAssumed
Particle content and three generationsAssumedAssumed
The fine-structure constant, 1/137.036FittedFitted
Fermion masses, quark and neutrino mixingFittedFitted
The Weinberg angleDerivedFitted
Strong CP problem: why θ is zeroDerivedFitted
Proton stabilityDerivedDerived
The QCD scaleFittedFitted

Same budget, spent differently

Rules that predict, instead of dials that fit.

Flavour

7 rules, not 20 dials

DFD's seven flavour rules reproduce the pattern of masses and mixings. The standard stack tunes about twenty masses and mixing angles one by one.

Fine-structure constant

1/137.036 from geometry

Four rules give it as a closed form from the shape of DFD's internal space. The standard stack takes it as a measured input.

Galaxies

a0 = 2√α·c·H0

DFD's galaxy rules fix the MOND scale from known constants, published in MNRAS. The standard stack needs dark-matter halos and about sixteen tuned feedback numbers.

The early universe

No inflaton needed

The standard stack spends nine assumptions on an inflaton field and its potential. DFD uses none of them.

The same number of starting assumptions as the standard model, far more explained, and five times fewer free numbers.

How this was counted. One rulebook was fixed before counting and applied the same way to both theories. Shared mathematics (quantum field theory, differential geometry, statistical mechanics) is left out on both sides; machinery only one side uses counts against that side (DFD’s spectral action and Chern–Simons theory, the standard stack’s inflaton). The standard stack was counted twice, independently, and DFD once, with every judgement call checked and applied identically to both. The figures above are before merging statements that imply one another; merged by the same rule the two sit at 51 and 52, still even. Each phenomenon is graded on its headline result, and counts as derived only if no number or choice was tuned to that result. Two independent graders applied this rule to both theories and agree that DFD derives eight; the table shows the grading most generous to the standard stack. On the strictest reading of every call, DFD still derives more and assumes less. Besides its seven continuous numbers DFD uses twenty discrete choices (integers and selection rules) checked against data; counting those too gives 27 against 35 to 51. The matter–antimatter asymmetry is left out because neither side derives it.
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