APF Paper 0 — What Physics Permits: A Constraint-First Framework for Physics

Paper 0 of the Admissibility Physics Framework (APF), What Physics Permits: A Constraint-First Framework for Physics. The paper is the framework's introduction and statement of methodological stance. Physics is approached as constraints on admissibility — what configurations a finite physical system can sustain — rather than as postulated laws. One substantive empirical claim does the load-bearing work: A1, finite information capacity at every causally connected region, with the Principle of Least Enforcement Cost (PLEC, four constitutive components A1 + MD + A2 + BW) as the variational structure A1 forces. From there the chain takes us to the Standard Model, Lorentzian spacetime, Einstein's field equations, the cosmological constant ΩΛ = 42/61 ≈ 0.6885, and the minimum quantum of action ℏ, with no parameters fitted to data. What this paper establishes. The constraint-first methodology: physical structure is the unique admissible solution to PLEC-based variational conditions. The single-axiom architecture: A1 is the only primitive structural input. The capacity partition Ctot = 61 with effective dimension deff = 102 — the rigid integer quantization underlying the downstream derivations. The full chain: Papers 1–8 build the Standard Model + spacetime + quantum formalism + gravity + cosmology + action from PLEC. Paper 13 isolates the minimal admissibility core. Predictions. 48 quantitative predictions across mass spectroscopy, cosmological density fractions, gauge couplings, and mixing angles. Of 39 currently testable, 32 are within 3σ. Mean error 3.83%, median error 0.37%. Notable: sin2θW = 3/13 at tree level. ΩΛ = 42/61 to 1.2%. H0 = 67.76 km/s/Mpc, consistent with Planck-constrained CMB measurements. The 7.09σ tension with the H0DN 2026 distance-ladder value (73.50 ± 0.81) is the framework's primary empirical confrontation, stated as a formal falsifier in Paper 6 §11.4. Scope. Argument-first and expository. The technical derivations live in Papers 1–8 and their Technical Supplements, with every theorem traceable to a named check in the apf/ codebase (v6.9: 376 bank-registered theorems across 23 modules). Code and reproducibility. GitHub repository Colab walkthrough notebook (one-click, no setup required) Interactive dependency DAG About the APF series. The Admissibility Physics Framework derives Standard Model and cosmological structure from a single primitive — finite enforcement capacity — through a chain of papers plus a machine-verifiable engine. Each paper has a main text and, where applicable, a Technical Supplement, deposited on Zenodo and collected in the admissibility_physics community; the canonical engine (APF-Engine v24.3.427, 3,918 bank-registered checks) backs every quantitative claim. The full series index is at admissibilityphysics.com. DOIs below are concept DOIs (they always resolve to the latest version). Paper 0 — What Physics Permits: A Constraint-First Framework for Physics — 10.5281/zenodo.18439523 Paper 1 — The Enforceability of Distinction — 10.5281/zenodo.18439200 · supplement Paper 2 — Finite Admissibility and the Failure of Global Description — 10.5281/zenodo.18439274 · supplement Paper 3 — Entropy, Time, and Accumulated Cost — 10.5281/zenodo.18439363 · supplement Paper 4 — Admissibility Constraints and Structural Saturation — 10.5281/zenodo.18439397 · supplement Paper 5 — Quantum Structure from Finite Enforceability — 10.5281/zenodo.18439433 · supplement Paper 6 — Dynamics and Geometry as Optimal Admissible Reallocation — 10.5281/zenodo.18439445 · supplement Paper 7 — A Minimal Quantum of Action from Finite Admissibility — 10.5281/zenodo.18439513 · supplement Paper 8 — The Admissibility-Capacity Ledger — 10.5281/zenodo.19721384 · supplement Paper 9 — The Geometric Substrate as Cost Structure of Comparison Continuations — 10.5281/zenodo.20041675 · supplement Paper 10 — The Calculus of Finite Continuability — 10.5281/zenodo.20041680 · supplement Paper 11 — Forced Universality from Capacity-Bounded Admissibility — 10.5281/zenodo.20684198 · supplement Paper 12 — The Gauge Sector of Admissibility Physics — 10.5281/zenodo.21212521 · supplement Paper 13 — The Minimal Admissibility Core — 10.5281/zenodo.18361446 Paper 14 — The Quantum Story — 10.5281/zenodo.21212188 · supplement Paper 16 — Markov Breakdown and the Hard Problems — 10.5281/zenodo.20684207 Paper 18 — The Electroweak Sector as a Capacity Equilibrium — 10.5281/zenodo.20684209 Paper 19 — Large-Angle CMB Suppression as a Finite-Continuability Constraint — 10.5281/zenodo.21199218 Paper 20 — The Enforcement Crystal — 10.5281/zenodo.18531732 · supplement Engine (Paper 21) — Admissibility Physics: An Executable Constraint Framework and Constants Map — 10.5281/zenodo.18529115 Paper 23 — Magnetically Dark Winding-Class Quantum Processors — 10.5281/zenodo.21199220 Paper 24 — The Recruitment-Radius Extension — Foundations — 10.5281/zenodo.20684211 · supplement Paper 25 — The Recruitment-Radius Extension: Applications — 10.5281/zenodo.21199222 · supplement Paper 28 — Absolute Mass Scales from Electroweak Capacity Saturation — 10.5281/zenodo.20684215 Paper 29 — Plaquette Representation Dominance and Confinement — 10.5281/zenodo.20684218 Paper 30 — A Tube Mechanism for the Lattice Mass Gap — 10.5281/zenodo.20684220 Paper 31 — Osterwalder–Schrader Structure of Lattice Yang–Mills — 10.5281/zenodo.20684222 Paper 32 — Quark Anchors as APF Trace Masses — 10.5281/zenodo.21199226 Paper 33 — Trace-to-Scheme Export Architecture — 10.5281/zenodo.20684224 · supplement Paper 35 — The Dark Sector as a Two-Role Capacity Decomposition — 10.5281/zenodo.20684228 · supplement Paper 36 — The Missing Floor — 10.5281/zenodo.21199228 Paper 37 — Collapse as Realignment — 10.5281/zenodo.21199231 · supplement Paper 38 — Unification as Ledger — 10.5281/zenodo.21199233 · supplement Paper 39 — Coherent Phase Regimes in the APF Interface Engine — 10.5281/zenodo.21199235 · supplement Paper 40 — The Thermodynamics of Finite Distinction (Between Symmetry and the Void) — 10.5281/zenodo.20684235 · supplement Paper 41 — The Horizon as a Continuation Ledger — 10.5281/zenodo.20684241 · supplement Paper 42 — The Weak Mixing Angle Is Not Free — 10.5281/zenodo.20684245 Paper 43 — The Neutrino Sector — 10.5281/zenodo.21194191 Paper 44 — What a Finite Theory Owes the Continuum — 10.5281/zenodo.21195874 · supplement Paper 45 — What the Vacuum Can Keep — 10.5281/zenodo.21194195 · supplement Paper 46 — The Strong CP Angle Is Not Free — 10.5281/zenodo.21194197 · supplement Paper 47 — The Confinement Antecedent Is Not Forced — 10.5281/zenodo.21194199 · supplement Paper 48 — The Light-Bending Weight Is Not Free — 10.5281/zenodo.21199627 · supplement Technical Supplements cross-link to their main paper via isSupplementTo and to the companion GitHub repository (github.com/Ethan-Brooke) via isDocumentedBy. Author. Ethan Brooke, Independent Researcher, San Anselmo, California, USA. ORCID: 0009-0001-2261-4682 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ethanbrooke GitHub: github.com/Ethan-Brooke Contact: brooke.ethan@gmail.com