The Big Release: The Ultimate Fate of the Universe in the Cosmological Braking Theory

In the Cosmological Braking Theory (CBT), the apparent accelerated expansion of the Universe arises from temporal dilation of matter clocks by a cosmological electromagnetic condensate: dτₘatter = √D (z) dtcoord, where D (z) = 1 − Ωf (1+z) ³ + Ωf² (1+z) ⁶ and Ωf = Ωₘ α = 2. 30×10⁻³. This mechanism predicts a qualitatively new ultimate fate of the Universe, which we name the Big Release. In the asymptotic future (z → −1, a → ∞), D (z) → 1 and γ (z) = 1/√D (z) → 1: matter clocks resynchronise with coordinate time. The apparent acceleration vanishes — not because dark energy decays, but because the observers' clocks return to their natural rate. This result is an exact algebraic consequence of D (z) and is independent of the initial conditions at the Big Bang. A residual true expansion driven by Ω_Λ = 0. 6826 continues, but without apparent acceleration. The dynamics of the Big Release unfold in five acts: (1) Big Bang (CBT = ΛCDM for z > 6. 539) ; (2) Quantum rebound at zc = 6. 539 (third-order phase transition, dilation begins) ; (3) The Tension — elastic maximum at z ≈ 4. 988 where 1−D = 25%, not at zc; (4) The Release — progressive relaxation from z ≈ 5 to the asymptotic future; (5) Big Release — D = 1, γ = 1, SᵥN → 0, the illusion of acceleration is over. The Big Release is the only cosmological end scenario governed by observer resynchronisation rather than by a change in the properties of dark energy, and the only one with zero free parameters. The von Neumann entropy of the EM condensate SᵥN (z) = 2 ln G (z) traces a complete cycle in Hilbert space: 0 at zc → 3. 257 today → 0 in the asymptotic future. This is not a cycle in physical space but a quantum recurrence of the condensate ground state. The Big Release has a deep connection to the observer-dependence of quantum measurement: the apparent acceleration is a property of the system-observer relation (matter clocks entangled with the condensate), not of the Universe alone — in precise analogy with the dependence of quantum measurement outcomes on the state of the measuring apparatus. The connection is conceptual, not a formal derivation. A testable prediction: the jerk parameter j (z) = − (1+z) dq/dz − q (1+2q) deviates from j = −1 (the ΛCDM value) throughout 0 < z < zc = 6. 539, with a divergence near zc (signature of the third-order phase transition). This is measurable by Euclid and LSST at z < 2.