Summary of the theory

The papers argument is that the vacuum is a field, and stable matter has to wrap around in a complete circle to exist (integer winding). A single quark is only a third of a wrap (fractional winding), which doesn't close up properly, so it can't exist on its own, it has to combine with others to finish the loop. Confinement isn't a force, but geometry.

Three quarks make a baryon by completing one full turn. A meson is a quark and an antiquark cancelling each other out. "Colour" is just the three different starting points for a third-turn. The whole-number rule also predicts things like tetraquarks and gives a specific wall tension. It doesn't explain particle motion, mass, size, spin, or charge.

Here's the paper (sorry if linking this breaks any rules): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20024999

Rules of engagement

These rules are taken from the working document create by Claude as part of the process and is flagged as AI generated by use of italics):

• Don't import Standard Model assumptions without first verifying the underlying mathematics in the framework's own terms.
• Equations are ground truth; analogies derive from them, not the other way round.
• State the physical question in plain English before any calculation. If you can't, don't start the calculation.
• Tag every claim by certainty level: derived, plausible, or speculative.
• When something looks wrong, stop and diagnose. Don't tune until it goes away.
• Negative results are as important as positive ones.
• Follow the mathematics.
• Calibration is not derivation. Be honest about which is which.
• "Consistent with" is not "derived from." Be honest about which is which.
• Reconcile contradictory numerical values before publishing a new one.
• Don't fit to fill the gap and press on.
• Be suspicious of results that look too good.

In the background it used Python for the maths, specifically sympy, numpy/scipy and matplotlib.