Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v22.0 - alpha the "heart" of the theory

Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v22. 0 - alpha the "heart" of the theory This preprint presents Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v22. 0, a minimal, nonsingular cosmological framework within standard General Relativity and a single complex scalar field Phi in a radiatively tilted double-well potential, augmented by a radiatively generated ekpyrotic term delta exp (-c Re (Phi) ). Supplemented by the leading Planck-suppressed interaction between two CPT-related sectors sharing the same spacetime metric, this two-sector structure replaces global time direction with a CPT-symmetric description. Thermodynamic arrows, entropy production, and matter-antimatter asymmetries emerge as sector-dependent phenomena, while the total system remains globally entropy-conserving. The scalar potential and bounded effective Friedmann correction generate a smooth, ghost-free bounce with finite curvature invariants and transient NEC violation localized near the bounce. During the ekpyrotic phase, curvature perturbations yield a nearly scale-invariant spectrum (nₛ approx 0. 96, Aₛ approx 10^-9) without inflation or additional fields. Planck-suppressed cross-sector interaction damps isocurvature modes as a^-alpha, driving adiabaticity. A key advancement in v22. 0 makes alpha the "heart" of the theory, with cross-epoch correlations that enhance predictive power and falsifiability. This single infrared relaxation parameter alpha governs correlated deviations across epochs, controlling Delta Nₑff approx 0. 1-0. 3, percent-level corrections to f sigma₈ (z), isocurvature damping, and exponential sensitivity in dark-matter-to-baryon ratio and baryon asymmetry. These arise from distinct processes yet share a common dynamical origin, yielding non-trivial consistency relations testable with Euclid, DESI, and CMB-S4. RDCC offers a minimal, observationally testable alternative to Lambda CDM, unifying nonsingular cyclic evolution, near-adiabatic primordial perturbations, dark matter abundance, baryon asymmetry, and mild late-time deviations. The theory's viability hinges on the empirical consistency of its correlated multi-observable predictions. Version updates: Refined Cuscuton operator for bounce mechanism, expanded mirror-sector phenomenology, and new appendices on limitations and dualistic extensions. This version builds on: Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v1. 0: A Minimal Eternal Framework and Its Dynamical Realization: https: //zenodo. org/records/18281686 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v2. 0: A Minimal Eternal Framework with Dynamical Realization and Extensions: https: //zenodo. org/records/18304744 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v5. 0: Bounce-Matching Formalism, Mirror-Sector Dynamics, and Refined Gravitational Waves: https: //zenodo. org/records/18307836 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v6. 0: Black Hole Bounces as Local CPT-Fixpoints, Full Perturbation Transfer Matrix and Mirror-Sector Microphysics: https: //zenodo. org/records/18312656 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v7. 0: Quantum-Corrected Black Hole Bounces, Full Perturbation Transfer Matrix with Phase-Shift, and Mirror Microphysics https: //zenodo. org/records/18327084 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v8. 0: Parameter Space Exploration, Data Confrontation, and Predictive Structure Formation https: //zenodo. org/records/18334398 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v9. 0: Predictive Cosmology, Nonlinear Structure Formation, and Astrophysical Signatures https: //zenodo. org/records/18336237 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v10. 0: Unified Cosmology, Full Simulations, and Observational Pipelines https: //zenodo. org/records/18336865 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v11. 0: Entropy Dynamics, Mirror Thermodynamics, EFT Consistency, and Naturalness https: //zenodo. org/records/18341147 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v12. 0: Precision Predictions, Multi-Probe Confrontation, and Quantum-Geometric Completion https: //zenodo. org/records/18346555 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v13. 0: Quantum Completion, Global Consistency, and Predictive Cosmology https: //zenodo. org/records/18348450 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v14. 0: Unified Quantum Gravity, Full-Cycle Simulation, and Multi-Messenger Precision Cosmology https: //zenodo. org/records/18351916 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v15. 0: Mirror-Sector Cosmology, Hidden-Universe Gravitational Waves, and Two-Sector Evolution https: //zenodo. org/records/18358095 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v16. 0: Precision Two-Sector Dynamics, Mirror Thermodynamics Refinements, and Enhanced GW Forecasts https: //zenodo. org/records/18388123 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v17. 0 - Minimal Effective Two-Sector Version https: //zenodo. org/records/18761806 While the core of RDCC remains a structural, timeless framework with fixpoint character, this document explores a dynamical realization of the bounce mechanism to enable concrete, falsifiable predictions. Related documents and the full RDCC ecosystem are available via Zenodo: https: //zenodo. org/records/18204087 Michael Lehmannmi. lehmann@gmx. de