Aether-Unit Mechanism for the Photoelectric Effect (QMU/QADI: Ledger One transport, holonomy-projected photon geometry, and resonance gating)

This paper presents a QMU/QADI mechanism for the photoelectric effect built from Aether-unit geometry and ledger closure rather than a particulate “photon energy packet” premise. Core ontology. Electrons are the emitted entities. Illumination is treated as a condition of space filled with photon transfer fronts: outward-curled (reciprocal-mass) angular-momentum transport among polarized Aether units. “Energy” is used only as a descriptive ledger quantity of the emitted electron state, not as the transported entity. Propagation anchors. Transport speed is fixed by chronovibration, $c=F_q\lambda_C$, and by Ledger One,$$A_u\cdot \mathrm{curl}={F_q}^{2}{\lambda_C}^{2}=c^{2}$$so electromagnetic propagation is explicitly decomposed into rotational (Aether-unit) and torsional (curl) geometries. Geometry of electron and photon. The emitting electron is modeled as a $5\mathrm{D}$ tubular loxodrome whose observed $4\mathrm{D}$ state is its holonomy projection: a tubular cardioid with effective toroidal geometry. A photon inherits the holonomy-projected geometry of the causal electron transition and therefore propagates as a thin expanding cardioid band (ring-front) of angular-momentum transfer, not a moving pellet. Intensity as Aether-unit activation. Light intensity is treated operationally as event-rate drive at the receiver,$$\mathrm{lint}=m_e\,\lambda_C\,{F_q}^{3}$$and is related to Aether activation by$$A_u=\mathrm{lint}\cdot \mathrm{qcdd}$$with$$\mathrm{qcdd}={\lambda_C}^{2}/({e_\mathrm{emax}}^{2}\,F_q)$$This yields the canonical identity$$A_u=m_e\,{\lambda_C}^{3}{F_q}^{2}/{e_\mathrm{emax}}^{2}$$so “intensity” is interpreted as controlled Aether-unit activation modulated by charge-distribution dynamics. Resonance-gated receiver coupling. Threshold behavior is intrinsic: a receiver couples only when a geometry/holonomy resonance gate opens,$$\mathcal{G}(\nu^{*},\mathrm{alignment})\in\{0,1\}$$with $\nu^{*}:=\nu/F_q$ the dimensionless frequency ratio. Above threshold, emission is prompt because coupling is immediate once the gate opens; intensity controls the electron event rate when coupling is permitted. Reciprocal-mass interpretation. After canonical QMU reduction, the sign of the $m_e$ exponent is interpreted physically: $\alpha>0$ indicates inward-curled (matter-state) mass participation, while $\alpha