Matter Flux Equilibrium Theory (MFET) A Unified Framework for Cosmic Metabolism, Information Geometry, and Multiverse Equilibrium Dynamics

Honesty revision: θ* derivation status and Γ₀ provenance corrected to match the θ* Audit (Appendix X); no results changed, overclaims removed. Matter-Flux Equilibrium Theory (MFET I) establishes the cosmological foundations of the framework. The universe is modeled as an open metabolic manifold M with boundary ∂M — the Planck-scale Micro-Wormhole Mesh — governed by regulated information flux exchange with a Parent Manifold. Three master equations govern the dynamics: flux conservation, information balance, and the Gaussian regulatory constraint. This paper derives the Gaussian regulator epsilon = 1/(phi^4 * (phi^4 + 1)) = 6.1803 x 10^-4 from two independent methods — cosmological transport dynamics and geometric channel counting — which converge on the same value. The anyonic fixed point theta* = 0.082pi is derived as the attractor of the anyonic transport equation with Lyapunov exponent lambda = -88.7, meaning perturbations are damped 89 times faster than the Hubble rate. Cosmological implications include a pre-crystallization expansion law a(t) proportional to t^(2/5) from d_eff = 5, connections to the CMB axis of evil as the Global Advection Frame of the mesh, the JWST early massive galaxy problem as high sigma_I nodes of the primordial mesh, anomalous cosmic voids as regulatory drainage zones, and the cosmological reproduction mechanism through holographic boundary saturation producing daughter manifolds. This paper is the cosmological companion to MFET II (Particle Physics), which derives nine Standard Model predictions from the parameters established here.