Abstract
<jats:p>The fine-structure constant is usually treated as an empirical dimensionless coupling of quantum electrodynamics. This paper proposes a different interpretation: \(\alpha^{-1}\) is a universal geometric capacity of the neutral-parent structure from which electromagnetic read-out becomes possible. In this view, branch-level electric charge is not primitive; it is an oriented read-out of a resolved defect, while magnetic response is a loop-level holonomy read-out of the completed neutral parent. A neutral object may therefore have no net electric charge while still possessing magnetic holonomy capacity. The leading neutral-parent capacity is formulated as the stratified Haar capacity \[ \Omega_{P_0} = (2\pi)(2\pi^2)+\frac12(2\pi^2)+\frac12(2\pi) = 4\pi^3+\pi^2+\pi , \] with the product term representing the coupled \(U(1)\)-phase and \(SU(2)\)-spinorial interior and the half-weight terms representing marginal boundary strata of the unresolved parent. The novelty of the proposal is not the isolated leading expression, but its interpretation as a neutral-parent magnetic capacity and its embedding into a constrained carrier-interface correction hierarchy. The first self-exposure correction from the ordered Z3 → Z4 interface contributes \(-1/(24\Omega_{P_0})\), and the reduced magnetic Z4 → Z5 cross-interface transfer contributes \(-7/(5\Omega_{P_0}^{3})\). Thus \[ \alpha^{-1}_{geom} = \Omega_{P_0} - \frac{1}{24\Omega_{P_0}} - \frac{7}{5\Omega_{P_0}^{3}} = 137.0359991761696 . \] This differs from the CODATA 2022 value \(\alpha^{-1}_{\rm CODATA}=137.035999177(21)\) by approximately \(-8.3\times 10^{-10}\), corresponding to about \(-0.04\sigma\). The same adjacent-interface logic gives a rule-defined higher-order continuation, with successively suppressed terms at orders \(\Omega_{P_0}^{-5},\Omega_{P_0}^{-7},\ldots\). These terms are not introduced as fitted improvements, but as a conditional consistency check and as quantitative targets for future higher-precision measurements of \(\alpha^{-1}\). The result is presented as a structural conjecture: the leading capacity is formulated as a stratified Haar capacity, while a complete carrier-defect theorem for the interface corrections and their all-order persistence remains an open task.</jats:p>