Well Masses at the Data Nova, and the Null Well Collapse

The BPT law

BPT Part 3.6 (Data Novas and Dimensional Evolution) gives the UniSpheral Data Nova Threshold Law: the nova "occurs when quadratic capacity growth f(n) overwhelms the containment threshold χ∂, the holographic capacity of the containing skin." The Pulsecore's data grows by Recursive Capacity Growth, f(n) = (n + 1)², and the Bifold holds χ∂ = 16 · 4^L Zinf bits at level L (the Bifold Containment Law). BPT Part 3.9 (Fractal Progeny) names the event that follows, Null Well Collapse: "the instantiation of entirely new child Universes through Null Well Collapse events," where accumulated tension "exceeds fundamental substrate capacity." BPT Part 3.13 joins the two: "Proto Wells are collapses: they form at the Data Nova where the data is densest, as every Null Well forms where the overflow overwhelms the Zinf point," and "which data a well holds is its basin, every bit nearest to it." How the overflow is shared among the wells is not stated. BPT does not state this; it is a game method, ruled 2026-10-26: "they should physically probably start out smaller and grow as they accumulate."

The established physics

None: a game method. The comment records why the method was chosen: wells born with their whole peak "flung the new matter about at 7 cells a flip and erased the ripples the web grows from (measured)".

The game's math

At the Data Nova (performNovaSequence, app.js:5286–5291):

nN    = max(0, ⌊(finalFrame − 1)/2⌋)                 Tempos to the nova
over  = max(peaks.length, (nN + 1)² − 16·4^Lm)       dataWithin(nN) − skinCapacity(Lm)
m_i   = max(1, round(over · p_i / Σ p))              p_i the peak's mass (Part 3.2 or 3.3)

The overflow beyond the skin's capacity is shared among the peaks by their size. The rest of each peak stays as data around its well and falls in later (Part 3.11). If the nova fires on the very Tempo the skin fills, (nN + 1)² = 16·4^Lm and the overflow is zero. The floor peaks.length then gives each well about one cell. How far past the fill the nova fires sets the rest.

At every nova from the Data Nova on (novaCount ≥ SPACE_LAYER = 2), the Null Well Collapse loop (app.js:5299–5312) empties each well's basin. A well of mass M takes exactly the M pulsing cells nearest its center. It works ring by ring, k = 0, 1, 2, … up to ⌊min(rows, cols)/2⌋, with a cell on ring k when k − 0.5 ≤ √(dr² + dc²) < k + 0.5. Each taken cell is cleared from grid, pulserGrid and exposureGrid and counted in ledger.collapses. The basin is the room that data held (ruling 2026-10-24: "the proper size of their data, not an arbitrary size").

At harmonic novas other than the Data Nova, the well masses are the sizes of the nova finder's clusters, wellMasses = clusters.map(cl => cl.length) (app.js:5248). The nova finder itself belongs to the novas chapter.

In the game

The player sees this as the Proto Wells being born small. Each new mark's core and glow grow with log₂(1 + mass), so most Proto Wells open as small rings and swell as data falls in (scene3d.js:1638–1640). Round each one, the cells it took go dark: a little hollow in the data skin, the basin it emptied. The "Void" line of the HUD counts the cells taken, N in · M out, where in is the cells folded and collapsed into the void (ledger.folds + ledger.collapses, app.js:2149); its tooltip reads "The void's ledger: cells folded or collapsed into it, strings drawn out of it" (index.php:87). Each later harmonic nova empties new basins the same way. The well's masses are kept in the nova log with each nova (novaLog, app.js:5316).

The scale model

The overflow is computed at the model level Lm, the drawn Pulsecore, not at L. Each drawn well's mass is in drawn cells. The weight wellMult (Part 3.3) carries the count to the true level, not the mass.

Fixed numbers

Measured

• "flung the new matter about at 7 cells a flip and erased the ripples the web grows from (measured)" (comment app.js:5286–5289, under the ruling of 2026-10-26).