Resolution of the Hubble Tension via Rendering Friction on the R12 Lattice: Cepheid Period Bias from the Geometric Incompleteness of the 12-Axis Substrate

Abstract

We present a zero-parameter resolution of the Hubble tension within the Array Cosmology (AC) framework. The R12 rendering algebra predicts a true expansion rate Htrue 0 = 66.6 km/s/Mpc from the Friedmann equation with axiom-derived density parameters, consistent with Planck CMB (67.36±0.54, 1.5σ). We identify a systematic bias in Cepheid-calibrated distance ladder measurements arising from rendering friction: the irreducible Landauer erasure cost Znoise = (π−3) ln 2 ≈ 0.098 of
the discrete 12-axis substrate. This friction biases periodic pulsation measurements by a factor (1+Znoise), yielding H Cepheid
0 = 66.6×1.098 = 73.1 km/s/Mpc, matching SH0ES (73.04±1.04, 0.05σ). Snapshot-type measurements (CMB, BAO, TRGB) are
immune because angular ratios cancel the friction. The ratio H0(SH0ES)/H0(AC) = 1 + Znoise holds to 0.07% precision. Six falsifiable predictions are presented.

The Hubble tension is not a measurement error but the thermodynamic cost of computing a periodic process on a discrete circular lattice.