Neutron Lifetime and the Universal Asymmetry: A Reflexive-Geometric Interpretation

The neutron lifetime anomaly provides the first empirical surface where a universal structural asymmetry becomes measurable. Bottle experiments, which register all neutron decays, report a lifetime of approximately 879 s, while beam experiments, which register only decays producing protons, report approximately 888 s. This persistent one‑percent discrepancy is conventionally interpreted as evidence for a dark decay channel. The present work reframes the anomaly as the low‑energy expression of a deeper geometric invariant: a minimal asymmetry \kappa arising from a finite reflexive tower. The reflexive tower is a self‑referential structure whose coherence requires an irreducible skew. A Nash‑type equilibrium stabilizes this skew at a universal value \kappa , independent of system‑specific dynamics. Any physical process capable of bifurcating into a visible and a dark branch must inherit this asymmetry. The neutron, as the simplest such system with sufficient experimental precision, becomes the first empirical witness of the invariant. The neutron decay is modeled as a two‑branch process with branching fractions 1-\kappa (visible) and \kappa (dark). Bottle experiments measure the total decay rate, while beam experiments measure only the visible branch. The resulting discrepancy directly measures the projected and infrared‑dressed value of \kappa . The effective value observed in neutron decay (\kappa _{\mathrm{eff}}\approx 0.01) is shown to arise from a projection of the full equilibrium value (\kappa _{\mathrm{Nash}}\approx 0.015–0.02) combined with infrared dressing from QCD dynamics. This resolves the numerical tension without invoking new particles or tuned parameters. The universality of \kappa implies that the neutron anomaly is not an isolated phenomenon but the first accessible instance of a structural invariant that propagates across physical scales. The same asymmetry constrains rare meson decays, baryon‑number‑violating processes, the scalar/dark sector, the inflaton potential, the mass hierarchy, and the suppression of vacuum energy. The neutron thus anchors a unified geometric interpretation linking nuclear physics, particle phenomenology, and cosmology. This manuscript presents the full reflexive‑geometric framework, formalizes the equilibrium and projection structure, and outlines the implications for future experimental and theoretical work. The neutron lifetime anomaly is interpreted not as an experimental inconsistency but as the first measurement of a universal asymmetry required by the geometry of a finite reflexive tower.