# n86 — the Newtonian-anomaly confrontation, and the parameter card v2
# (2026-07-10; the active-medium card the record owed since n80)

Every real "anomaly of Newton" in the data, confronted; each one either
refines a parameter or scores a consistency point. Arithmetic shown;
all gamma floors are class [C] (order-unity drag coupling, c_drag =
0.02 measured in the toy at kappa_read = 1 — the units caveat travels
with every number).

## The confrontations

1. MERCURY'S PERIHELION (the classic): already fatal to the static
   model (headstone 23, beta = 0.513); the burden sits on the tensor
   junction. No parameter refined; the wound already carved.

2. LUNAR LASER RANGING (anomalous da/a < 2.6e-12/yr after tidal
   modeling): the audit friction would secularly decay the lunar
   orbit at rate Omega^2/(c_drag * gamma). BOUND: gamma > 4.3e9 s^-1.
   Also |Gdot/G| < 1e-14/yr bounds any secular pump drift: the
   inversion is maintained STEADY to one part in 1e14 per year —
   the first quantitative constraint on the pump's stability.

3. EARTH FLYBY ANOMALIES (post-2012 tracking: null at ~mm/s): the
   theory predicts NO velocity anomaly (friction suppressed as
   (Omega/gamma)^2) — the modern nulls are a consistency point, and a
   weak floor: gamma > 1e6 s^-1. The historical NEAR 13 mm/s residual,
   if ever revived as real, would be a direct tension: recorded as a
   kill condition on the friction sector.

4. BINARY PULSAR J0737-3039 (decay = GR to 1.3e-4), recomputed
   cleanly: gamma > 5.2e14 s^-1 — THE STRONGEST FLOOR. The knee, at
   unit coupling, sits above ~0.5 PHz: far-UV rates. (If the drag
   coupling carries gravitational suppression, the floor relaxes
   accordingly — class [C], loudly.)

5. PIONEER ANOMALY (resolved thermal, 2012): the theory predicts no
   sunward acceleration (no static extra force, n61) — consistency
   with the resolution, not with the anomaly. Scored.

6. PLANETARY EPHEMERIDES (Cassini ranging: extra radial acceleration
   < 1e-14 m/s^2 at Saturn): the theory's static force is audit-rate
   invariant and exactly Newtonian outside the substrate scale —
   predicts zero extra. Consistent; no parameter.

7. MICROSCOPE (Eotvos eta < 1e-15, Ti vs Pt): bounds the composition-
   dependence of consumption-per-unit-energy: lambda-universality is
   now DATA-BOUNDED at 1e-15. In this framework the asymmetric EP
   allows force-side violations in principle — MICROSCOPE says any
   such violation is below 1e-15 for these materials: the consumption
   map is energy-proportional to at least that precision.

8. THE G-MEASUREMENT SPREAD (CODATA lab-to-lab discrepancies ~5e-4):
   with a = 0 (Cassini), G is state-independent — THE THEORY PREDICTS
   THE DISCREPANCIES ARE SYSTEMATICS, not physics. If a real
   environmental G-dependence were ever confirmed, it would require
   a != 0 at a level Cassini forbids: a clean falsifiable stance on a
   live metrology controversy.

## PARAMETER CARD v2 (the active medium; supersedes n64's drainage card)
- a (audit state-dependence): |a| < 5.8e-6 [Cassini; exact-in-model,
  with the 10%-optical-ingredient caveat of n85-F2].
- gamma (the knee): floors, all [C], all same direction:
    flybys > 1e6, LLR > 4.3e9, PULSARS > 5.2e14 s^-1.
  Ceiling: none firm (Lorentz pushes the substrate deep-UV, opening
  c/l_s). At unit coupling the knee lives above the PHz: the
  laboratory search strategy shifts toward the fastest modulation
  physics available (attosecond/x-ray regimes) OR toward couplings
  below unity, where optomechanics bands reopen. Honest statement:
  the knee's band is the units question, and the pulsar floor is now
  its sharpest edge.
- Pump stability: |d ln(inversion)/dt| < 1e-14 / yr [LLR Gdot/G].
- lambda-universality (consumption ~ energy): < 1e-15 composition
  dependence [MICROSCOPE].
- l_s (substrate): < ~5 um [Eot-Wash x alternation profile], pushed
  deep-UV by Lorentz tests (n80).
- Q = kappa/|Delta|: >> 1 (the hierarchy's rate-half); pinned the day
  the knee is found.
- c_drag: 0.02 at kappa_read = 1 (toy); the [C]-class conversion
  factor everything above awaits.

## Kill conditions added to the standing list
- A revived, confirmed flyby anomaly (velocity-dependent, NEAR-class).
- A confirmed environmental dependence of G.
- Any confirmed anomalous secular orbital decay exceeding the
  (Omega/gamma)^2 profile's frequency ordering.

The chain's shape is unchanged and now four links long: every
Newtonian anomaly in the data either vanished on inspection (Pioneer,
flybys) exactly as the theory demands, or bounds the same parameter
from the same side. The audit is fast, the pump is steady, the map is
energy-proportional — and everything still funnels to one experiment,
whose band the pulsar floor just moved.