The cosmological constant problem — why the observed vacuum energy is roughly 10¹20 times smaller than the Planck scale — has resisted solution for decades and driven much of theoretical physics toward anthropic reasoning. We argue that Λ is not the outcome of an improbable cancellation, nor a selection effect in a multiverse, but the unique solution of a boundary-value problem (BVP) on the gravitational renormalisation group (RG) flow. One boundary condition comes from the ultraviolet: the Reuter fixed point of asymptotic safety, which restricts quantum gravity to a low-dimensional critical surface. The other comes from the infrared: the structure-formation feedback attractor established in Paper I (Salmond 2026, "The Cosmological Constant as a Feedback Attractor"; hereafter Paper I), which fixes Λ through gravitational self-consistency with bounded sensitivity. The dimensionless cosmological constant λ (k) = Λ/k² is known to be O (1) at the UV fixed point (λ* ≈ 0. 19, from the asymptotic safety literature since Reuter 1998) and is trivially O (1) at the Hubble scale (λ (H₀) ≈ 2. 07, from the Friedmann equation). Taken alone, this restates the hierarchy in different variables. The present work supplies the missing ingredient: an independently determined IR boundary condition that, combined with the UV fixed point, imposes two conditions on the two-dimensional critical surface, generically fixing a unique RG trajectory and rendering the 10¹20 ratio a consequence of the dynamical range (kPl/kH₀) ², not a fine-tuning. Two conditions on a two-dimensional surface generically fix a unique RG trajectory, hence a unique Λ, with combined robustness Eₜotal 0) converges to the SM NGFP (Route 1, Theorem 9. 2), and the trajectory's NGFP-side tangent is the universal slow eigenvector v₂ for any IR endpoint with O (1) dimensionless data — confirmed by an Option 3 scan across 47 orders of magnitude in GN·Λₒbs. The v1. 2 "BVP-selectivity" assumption is therefore demoted from a postulate to a derived statement in this truncation: the leading tangent at the NGFP is automatic by saddle-point dynamics, and the framework's surviving assumption set is A1, A2, A3, A4 (NGFP existence, finite critical surface, smooth IR limit, IR attractor). The 10¹20 cosmological constant problem is thus reduced, in DEP14 1L-II SM, to a fully derivable consequence of the boundary-value structure: 120 digits from the dynamical range (kPl/kH₀) ², an O (1) infrared boundary value Λ̃ (H₀) ≈ 2, and Paper I's attractor. Higher truncations (Computation B, Step 2, §11) remain to be performed. A partial Step 2 computation is reported in this revision. Using the Codello–Percacci–Rahmede f (R) truncation at polynomial order n = 3, we confirm the eigenvalue hierarchy Re (θ₁, ₂) = 2. 71 > θ₃ = 2. 07 that makes the R² coupling the slow relevant direction on the three-dimensional critical surface. The one-parameter family left by two IR conditions is identified with the Starobinsky scalaron: different departures along v₃ produce different physical R² couplings, hence different CMB scalar amplitudes Aₛ. If dim (SUV) = 3, the framework therefore correlates the cosmological constant with the inflationary amplitude — a zero-free-parameter prediction testable with existing CMB data. The quantitative determination of Aₛ (Λₒbs) requires Standard Model matter content in the f (R) truncation and is deferred to Paper IV. Series. This is Paper III of a six-part series: Paper I (Salmond 2026, DOI: 10. 5281/zenodo. 20156389): The Cosmological Constant as a Feedback AttractorPaper II (Salmond 2026, DOI: https: //doi. org/10. 5281/zenodo. 20222173): Testing a Connected-Singularity Mechanism for Gravitational Feedback CosmologyPaper III (Salmond 2026, DOI: 10. 5281/zenodo. 20222351): Two-Boundary Determination of the Cosmological Constant from Asymptotic Safety and Gravitational FeedbackPaper IV (Salmond 2026, DOI: 10. 5281/zenodo. 20284172): The Cosmological Constant as a Zero-Parameter Prediction of Asymptotic Safety with Standard Model MatterPaper V (Salmond 2026, DOI: 10. 5281/zenodo. 20286625): Resolving the Spin-2 Boundary Layer in f (R) Asymptotic Safety Paper VI (Salmond 2026, DOI: 10. 5281/zenodo. 20286761): Zero Crossing of the Cosmological Constant in f (R) Asymptotic Safety with Standard Model Matter
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Peter Salmond
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Peter Salmond (Sat,) studied this question.
www.synapsesocial.com/papers/6a13e7cf0e02ee3982d327c8 — DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20350155