From Fundamental Physics to Biospheres: A Gate-Based Predictive Framework for Life’s Emergence and Persistence

We present a physics-based framework that runs from fundamental interactions and constants to biospheres, using a sequence of quantitative nonequilibrium thresholds (“gates”). Each gate is an inequality in measurable variables—free-energy flux, reaction–transport rates, replication fidelity, coding capacity, ecological closure, and climate feedback gains. Crucially, the gate vector is anchored in fundamental physics: dimensionless constants (e.g., the fine-structure constant α and mass ratio me/mp), nuclear resonance placements (e.g., the 12C Hoyle state), and statistical mechanics (Lan- dauer’s bound kB T ln 2) fix the energetic, kinetic, and information-theoretic margins that propagate through the gates. This anchoring lets us propagate sensitivities of the constants into biosphere-level metrics (net primary productivity (NPP), cycle-closure ratios, and climate feedback gain), yielding an end-to-end map from constants to biospheres. The framework is predictive: it maps gates to exoplanet observables and thus specifies what kinds of life-bearing planets we should expect around different stars, which chemistries and biosphere archetypes are plausible, and which diagnostics can falsify those expectations. Darwinian dynamics (heritable variation under selection) appears mid-pipeline; the end of the pipeline is a planet-scale biosphere capable of sustaining positive NPP and closing elemental cycles over geologic time. Questions of prevalence are secondary; our primary ob- jective was to establish a constructive physics→chemistry→biology→genetics→ecosystems pipeline with testable margins and observables. We recast abiogenesis and biosphere persistence as a gate vector of falsifiable inequalities and map their margins to exoplanet observables, turning the problem into a phase diagram with explicit, testable slack.