Corrections and Retractions for the Substrate Framework

We present a comprehensive correction to a series of recent manuscripts developing the one-form substrate framework. A full internal audit has been conducted to evaluate claims regarding the derivation of the fine-structure constant α and related results. Several previously asserted derivations are withdrawn due to circularity, inconsistency with the one-form ontology, or dependence on external parameters. The surviving structure is identified: electromagnetism emerges from a fundamental one-form field bµ via the unified connection Bµ = bµ + λ∂νHνµ. The geometric-combinatorial spine of the Randers–Finsler loop-gas substrate yields the universal coefficients κ = 1/24 and nbare = 24, implying the structural identity κnbare = 1. Within the atomic-shell framework the fine-structure constant reduces exactly to α = π/ZB, where the normalization factor ZB is controlled by a single dimensionless geometric parameter λ˜ = λ/ε2. No independent derivation of λ˜ has been achieved. The framework is therefore internally consistent but incomplete: it achieves a one-parameter reduction of α, but does not yet derive its value from first principles.