ICC Black Holes: Horizon as a Zero-Flow Surface, Planckian Core, and Gravitational-Wave Echo Predictions

We present a discrete information-theoretic model of black holes within the Information Copying Cosmology (ICC) framework, where spacetime emerges as a simplicial complex with a fundamental copying rate H(x,t). A black hole forms when defect accumulation saturates the copying capacity, driving H → 0 and creating a zero-flow surface Jcopy ·ˆr = 0 that replaces the classical event horizon. The mechanism naturally eliminates the central singularity, substituting it with a Planckian core of radius ∼ a. Statistical counting of defect configurations on the horizon yields S = A/4Gℏ for ∆∗ = 1/12, fixing the discrete ness scale at a ≈ 1.22ℓP. The model reproduces the Schwarzschild metric asymptotically, predicts a minimal correction to Hawking temperature (δ ∼ 0.02), and implies observable gravitational-wave echoes with delay ∆t ∼ 2Rs ln(Rs/ℓP). The framework resolves the infor mation paradox via horizon-locked defect encoding and offers falsifiable signatures testable by next-generation interferometers.