The Origin of Dark Matter Phenomena: Emergent Gravity from Quantum Vacuum Relaxation

We propose Vacuum Relaxation Theory (VRT), in which a single equation τ = 2πc/a defines a critical acceleration scale a_crit = 2πc/t_H ≈ 4.3 × 10⁻⁹ m/s². Below this scale, the quantum vacuum's relaxation timescale exceeds the Hubble time, producing an effective gravitational boost that reproduces galactic rotation curves, the Tully-Fisher relation, and wide-binary anomalies without invoking particle dark matter. We derive a MOND-like interpolation g_eff = g_N/2 + sqrt(g_N²/4 + g_N·a_0) directly from vacuum dynamics, and confront the theory with 30 independent observational datasets.