The ACORN Subatomic Spectrum: A 5D Curvature Ladder Unifying Neutrinos, Leptons, and Hadrons

The Standard Model contains a vast zoo of particles, organised through representation theory, symmetry breaking, and empirical assignments. Yet it offers no geometric reason why the particle spectrum exists, why neutrinos oscillate, why charge is quantised, or why the proton and electron possess their specific masses. This paper shows that ACORN—a 5D curvature-based framework with two mass channels—naturally generates the full subatomic spectrum as a discrete eigenmode ladder. In thisview, neutrinos, electrons, muons, taus, quarks, and hadrons arise as successive closedcurvature solutions bounded between the proton and the Planck scale, with photonsand graviton-like objects arising as open curvature modes. We outline the curvature structure, derive the placement of neutrinos and leptons, identify the proton as a deep curvature minimum, and show why precisely 18 eigenmodes exist between the proton and the Planck boundary.