The CMB shows a hemispherical power asymmetry: one hemisphere has systematically higher temperature-fluctuation power than the opposite hemisphere, with a dipole-like modulation amplitude A ≈ 0.07 detected at roughly 3σ in WMAP and Planck low-multipole data (Eriksen 2004; Akrami 2014). The asymmetry persists across data cuts. The standard model has no mechanism for such a coherent directional modulation in a statistically isotropic universe.
The standard model assumes inflation produces statistically isotropic and Gaussian primordial perturbations with no preferred direction. A persistent ~7% dipole modulation in CMB power should be exceedingly rare as a random fluctuation. Resolution within the model requires a space-dependent primordial power spectrum, special curvaton fields, or anisotropic inflation, all of which are non-trivial constructions.
SCT replaces the hot-dense-center with a superluminal collision and the thermalized debris field that became our visible universe. From this single change, the cascade is intrinsically directional. The two parent pockets intersected at superluminal v_rel with finite impact parameter b (P22), and the multi-stage thermalization cascade (P36, P37, P38, terminating before t ≈ 1 second per P40) deposited progressively decelerating energy unevenly across the overlap volume — more on the leading-pocket boundary side, less on the trailing side.
Each cascade stage refined rather than erased this initial inhomogeneity, because progressive-momentum-loss thermalization preserves the deposition gradient (P36 establishes the non-equilibrium initial state). The magnitude of the asymmetry is set by the ratio of cumulative cascade impact parameter to effective collision radius, and the asymmetry axis is set by the impact-parameter direction itself (P41, P64). After cascade termination, the post-thermalization plasma evolves under the Plasma Equivalence Theorem (P29, P30), preserving the asymmetric initial state through recombination so that today's CMB carries the ≈ 7% hemispherical modulation as a fossil imprint.
The same M10 mechanism produces the CMB Axis of Evil (recid 24), the connected quadrupoles (recid 18), the Cold Spot location, and the parity-odd preference. All four anomalies share one common axis because they all trace back to the same collision-deposited J vector. The high-power hemisphere should align with the cascade impact-parameter direction, perpendicular to the cosmic-web J-coherence axis from quasar polarization or VLBI jet alignment surveys (P64).
If polarization measurements (Simons Observatory, CMB-S4) show that the hemispherical-asymmetry axis is statistically inconsistent with the Axis-of-Evil quadrupole-octupole axis at greater than 3σ (i.e., the four anomaly axes do not share a common direction), the M10 common-collision-axis explanation is refuted. Equivalently, if the high-power hemisphere fails to align with the predicted impact-parameter direction relative to the cosmic-web J axis, the geometric prediction P64 fails.