Quantum Ice as a Pregeometric Vacuum: Ab Initio Derivation of the Standard Model and Emergent Gravity

Quantum Ice as a Pregeometric Vacuum: Ab Initio Derivation of the Standard Model and Emergent Gravity presents a revolutionary proposal in the foundations of theoretical physics. The author, Rogelio Pérez Casadiego, develops the Unified Effective Theory of Quantum Gravity and Baryonic Matter (UET-QGBM)?a minimalist ontology in which the entire universe, from Standard Model particles to gravity, dark matter, and the arrow of time, emerges from a single, real physical state: Quantum Amorphous Ice (QAI), a coherent condensate of water (H₂O) molecules in the zero-temperature limit.

Rejecting unobservable entities such as extra dimensions, exotic particles, or dynamical spacetime geometries, the book demonstrates how the local tetrahedral structure of QAI, its global coherence, and its asymmetric quantum transition (H₂O → H⁺ + OH⁻) generate?without free parameters or phenomenological fitting:

• The three fermion generations and their mass hierarchy (e, μ, τ; u, d, etc.),
• The gauge symmetries U(1) × SU(2) × SU(3) and their couplings (α_EM = 1/137, sin²θ_W = 0.23, α_s = 0.118),
• The CKM and PMNS mixing matrices, including CP violation (δ_CP = 1.21 rad),
• Automatic gauge anomaly cancellation via topological neutrality,
• Gravity as an emergent phenomenon mediated by an effective gravitational velocity field vg​(x,t) ,
• Dark matter as ultracold trapped OH⁻ within the lattice,
• And a reinterpretation of the "Big Bang" and "age of the universe" as observational consequences of a quantum transition in a potentially eternal cosmos.

More than metaphysical speculation, UET-QGBM is rigorously falsifiable: the book includes detailed experimental protocols?atomic interferometry, THz spectroscopy, quantum simulators?with quantitatively measurable predictions achievable with current technology (e.g., accumulated phases of Δϕ = 10⁴ rad in 1 second), requiring experimental precision under 5% error and avoiding reliance on high-energy colliders or indirect cosmological observations.

Moreover, it offers an executable computational roadmap (Appendix J) that derives the full Standard Model Lagrangian step by step from the microscopic properties of water, with no free parameters.

Addressed to physicists, philosophers of science, and rigorous thinkers, this work does not merely propose a new theory?it advances a new paradigm: fundamental physics need not postulate the invisible; it suffices to understand the everyday?in this case, a molecule that has been before us since the origin of life?to decipher the universe's deepest secret.