Functional Stability Theory I: A Game-Theoretic Framework for the Thermodynamic Stability of Fundamental Parameters

DRAFT preprint. This manuscript is part of an active research programme and remains subject to revision, correction, and journal review. This paper proposes a game-theoretic interpretive framework for the Standard Model of particle physics, grounded in thermodynamic optimization principles. We explore the hypothesis that the observed particle content and coupling constants are consistent with a Nash equilibrium of a multi-scale thermodynamic game, where the payoff function is the integrated entropy production over cosmological timescales. A semi-analytic stellar model demonstrates that the observed fine-structure constant lies within a broad plateau of near-maximal integrated stellar entropy production…