CCEGA Paper 18: The Critical Density ρ_c from QCD — Gravitational Threshold and Quark Deconfinement as a Single Phenomenon

Derives the CCEGA critical density ρ_c from quantum chromodynamics. The MIT bag model with perturbative QCD corrections gives ρ_trans = 6.9–7.9 ρ_nuc for B^{1/4} = 210–220 MeV and α_s = 0.3–0.5 — values within the experimentally accepted range — in precise agreement with the CCEGA preferred value ρ_c ≃ 7 ρ_nuc from PSR J0952−0607. The gravitational hard threshold of CCEGA and the hadron-quark phase transition of QCD are identified as the same critical point. CCEGA therefore has zero free parameters. Includes a prediction for lattice QCD: the cold quark-hadron transition should occur at ∼7 ρ_nuc, currently beyond ab-initio reach due to the sign problem.