Not Just Mass: Expanding Space Also Curves Light and Drives Orbital Motion (Gravitational Flux Transport Networks, v6.6)

Version 6.6 of the Expansion Freedom Theory series.

CENTRAL CLAIM:
Expanding space (H²r) curves light and
contributes to orbital speeds — not mass alone.
This is the unavoidable corollary of the
expansion-rotation principle: anything that
expands toward a passing body curves its path.
Mass expands (GM/A_eff); space itself expands
(H²r). Both bend light. Both drive orbits.
Dark matter is the residual produced when
the H²r contribution is omitted.

NEW IN v6.6:

(1) EXPANSION ROTATION — FOUR EFFECTS:
When a mass expands toward a passing body,
four effects determine the path:
① Approaching-face effect (GM/r²)
② Tangential-escape effect (v_t)
③ Surface-flattening effect
   κ = 1 + 3v_t²/c²
   CRITICAL: both speed v_t AND mass size r
   determine whether the lateral surface is seen.
   Mercury (slow but Sun is small):
   κ > 1 → closed orbit.
   Outer-disk star (fast but galaxy is huge):
   effectively stationary from galaxy frame,
   κ ≈ 1 → spiral infall, not orbit.
   Light (v_t = c, κ = 4):
   δφ = 4GM/bc² (twice Newton).
④ Conformal effect: a_space is the invisible
   expanding background of all observation.
   Scale vanishes; angle survives.
   This angular residual curves Mercury's path.

(2) TWO EQUATIONS — TWO PERSPECTIVES:
a_space = H²r + GM/A_eff (mass perspective,
mechanism equation)
a_matter = H²r - GM/A_eff (passing-body
perspective, phenomenological equation —
what Newton measured when the expanding
background was invisible).

(3) SURVIVAL SPEED PRINCIPLE:
v²(r) = GM·r/A_eff(r) + H²r²
The H²r² term (absent from Newton, GR
without Λ, and MOND) explains:
- Flat rotation curves (A_eff term)
- Outer velocity rise (H²r² term)
- Dark matter fraction ∝ H²r³/GM
  (same scaling from rotation curves
  AND lensing, zero free parameters)

(4) GRAVITATIONAL LENSING — THREE
CONTRIBUTIONS:
δφ_total = δφ_mass + δφ_path + δφ_space
Space expansion itself bends light at
cluster scales. Dark matter fraction at
clusters scales as H²r³/GM — the same
parameter-free prediction as rotation curves.
Bullet Cluster explained without dark matter.

(5) SPIRAL ARMS AS INFALL TRAJECTORIES:
Outer-disk stars are in slow spiral infall,
not closed orbits. Arm direction matches
infall (same as rotation direction), not
trailing drag — confirmed by observation.
Standard rotation-curve measurements assume
v_r = 0; the infall component produces a
systematic blueshift excess on the approaching
arm, a testable prediction.

(6) WHY GRAVITATIONAL LOGIC BREAKS DOWN:
At small scales H²r ≈ 0 → Newton exact.
At large scales H²r ∝ r → deficit appears.
Dark matter is the name given to this deficit.

CONSISTENT WITH:
All v6.5.1 results (Mercury perihelion 43"/cy,
flat rotation curves, GR as expansion snapshot).
GR recovered as H²r → 0 limit.
Quantitative SPARC fitting deferred to v6.7.

PREDECESSOR: v6.5.1 (Zenodo, June 2026)
https://zenodo.org/records/20958269