Little Red Dots Demystified: Weyl Curvature Imprints (WCI) as the Unifying Explanation for High-Redshift Compact Red Sources

Title: Little Red Dots Demystified: Weyl Curvature Imprints (WCI) as the Unifying Explanation for High-Redshift Compact Red Sources Authors: Alex Bertran Description:JWST has unveiled a population of compact, red, broad-line sources at z=4–7z=4–7—known as Little Red Dots (LRDs)—that defy standard AGN and stellar interpretations. This work proposes that LRDs are not accreting black holes, but activated Weyl Curvature Imprint defects: persistent topological deformations of spacetime that originate from primordial violent events (e.g., PBH evaporation, Pop III supernovae) and can also form in recent energetic phenomena such as ringed supernovae. The WCI framework explains simultaneously: The “naked” 50 M⊙⊙ black-hole candidate (Juodžbalis et al. 2025) as a geometric mass effect ∫∣C∣2dV∫∣C∣2dV. The extreme Balmer break and broad lines of “The Cliff” (de Graaff et al. 2025) as primordial gas trapped in a curvature well. The X‑ray quiet nature of LRDs with high‑ionization iron lines (Lambrides et al. 2025) via non‑thermal excitation through spin‑curvature coupling (or, in a deeper quantum‑geometric picture, through direct coupling to spacetime’s vibrational modes). The model makes testable predictions: no X‑ray coronae, anomalous iron‑line ratios, a stochastic GW background at 10−510−5 Hz (LISA), and correlations between LRD positions and CMB anisotropies. LRDs are thus reinterpreted not as exotic AGN, but as illuminated scars of spacetime—probes of fossil curvature that offer a unique window into the universe’s primordial geometry and, potentially, its quantum‑topological substructure. Keywords:Little Red Dots, JWST, high-redshift galaxies, Weyl curvature, topological defects, dark matter alternative, quantum gravity signatures, primordial black holes, cosmic scaffolding, geometric memory Communities:Astrophysics, Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Related identifiers: Cites: Bertran (2025), The Weyl Curvature Imprint (WCI) Framework, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.15270535 Cites: Bertran et al. (2025), The Jussà‑Vila Ansatz, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.17117607 Cites: Juodžbalis et al. (2025), arXiv:2508.21748 Cites: de Graaff et al. (2025), A&A 701, A168 Cites: Lambrides et al. (2025), arXiv:2509.09607 Type: Preprint (astrophysics/cosmology) What's New in This Version (v2.0) Added direct dynamical mass measurement from Juodzbalis et al. (2026, Nature) and the M_BH / M_star > 2 constraint. Added extremely low metallicity measurement from Maiolino et al. (2026, MNRAS): Z ~ 0.004 Z_sun. Added failure of standard AGN/SF templates from Ronayne et al. (2026, arXiv). Added lensing discovery reference Furtak et al. (2024, Nature). Broadened origin of WCIs: not only PBH evaporation, but also topological defects from the Mesh (Great Unknotting) – see companion paper The Breathing Universe by Bertran et al. (2026, Mesh). Clarified that a WCI does NOT "curve" spacetime — it is curvature. Gas orbits within the curvature well, mimicking a point mass with no mass present. Added explicit mention of discrete elastic mesh and the avoidance of Birkhoff's theorem / classical GR topological stability. Renamed "Scars" to "WCI (Weyl Curvature Imprint)" as primary technical term; "scars" retained as accessible metaphor. Updated predictions for LISA (10^-5 Hz GW background) and JWST time-domain tests. Added connection to cyclic cosmology (Great Knot → Great Unknotting → 3-Sphere). Updated all references to June 2026 literature.