Correlation Transfer, the Direction of Information Flow, and the Dark Energy Fraction

We propose that cosmological expansion redistributes quantum correlations between the bulk interior of the observable universe and the cosmological horizon. During accelerating expansion, correlations are irreversibly transferred outward across the horizon; during decelerating expansion, the flow reverses as modes re-enter. This directional asymmetry provides a structural explanation for why dark energy becomes dominant at the onset of cosmic acceleration. We observe that standard horizon thermodynamics already yields an energy density of order the critical density (a known result). If Landauer's principle is additionally applicable to the irreversible transfer of correlations at the cosmological horizon, the energy density acquires a single multiplicative factor of ln 2, giving a parameter-free prediction: Ω_Λ = ln 2 ≈ 0. 6931, consistent with the Planck 2018 value of 0. 692 ± 0. 012. A simplified accumulation model in which Landauer energy deposits from the onset of acceleration independently reproduces the observed values of Ω_Λ, Ωₘ, and q₀ at the current epoch, though it does not yet reproduce the full expansion history at intermediate redshifts. The paper presents two claims at different levels of confidence: the directional argument (independent of any energy-per-bit identification), and the conditional Landauer prediction (whose validity depends on an open question in semiclassical gravity). A self-consistency constraint between ρ_Λ ∝ H² and the Friedmann equation is identified: the instantaneous tracking interpretation forces q = 1/2, indicating that the dynamical connection between the Landauer calculation and the dark energy density is more subtle than simple proportionality. The effective equation of state of Landauer deposits at a cosmological horizon is identified as the central open problem whose resolution would determine the framework's dynamical predictions.