nf.epistemic.pvnf

Provenance Normal Form (PvNF)

Contract ID: nf.epistemic.pvnf | Family: epistemic | Index Status: draft | AuthorityEffect: None

⬅ Back to Wiki Home | View SVG Diagram

---

1. Executive Summary & Metadata

Provenance Normal Form (PvNF) enforces structural normalization and explicit defect routing in the epistemic regime.

Property	Value
Canonical ID	nf.epistemic.pvnf
Short Name	PvNF
Full Name	Provenance Normal Form
Family	epistemic (Observer-Relative Epistemic, Freshness, Context, Provenance & Distinguishability Contracts)
Qualification	Extended Form Contract (Normal Form Contract)
Data / Math Posture	in_motion
Index Status	draft
Theory Status	proposed
Verification Status	absent
Contract Version	v0
Governance Fence	AuthorityEffect: None (certified_implies_authorized: false)

---

2. Visual Architecture & Normalization Diagram

---

3. Concrete Worked Example & Mechanism

Visual Transition Summary

Stage	Carrier / Operator	Concrete State / Invariant
1. Before / Candidate Input	Input Carrier (PvNF Candidate)	Anomaly risk: authority ; hallucination
2. Normalization / Gate	PvNF Verification Gate	generated answer or deriv... (certified_implies_authorized: false)
3. After / Certified Output	Certified PvNF Output	Invariant: ['source_facts', ; 'transformations', ; 'model_or_tool_calls',...

---

4. The Four-Pillar Quadrilateral & Non-Claims

Every contract in simplex-normal-forms is evaluated against the Four-Pillar Quadrilateral defined in contracts/_golden_nfs/standard.yaml:

Pillar	Requirement	Contract Specification for nf.epistemic.pvnf
Pillar I: Excludes Anomaly	Name and eliminate a specific class of data or state defects.	authority hallucination
Pillar II: Preserves Invariant	State the structural invariant and protected skeleton preserved across transitions.	Invariant: generated answer or derived data product carries source facts, transforms, model/tool calls, uncertainty, and non-replayable steps Protected Skeleton: ['source_facts', 'transformations', 'model_or_tool_calls', 'uncertainty', 'non_replayable_steps']
Pillar III: Lossless Reconstruction	State the non-loss reconstruction operator (join, direct sum, pullback, or replay).	Lossless reconstruction under declared projection, direct sum, or pullback operators.
Pillar IV: Syntactic Decidability	State how conformance is decided from declared constraints without unbudgeted scans.	Decidable from declared schema and witness metadata within bounded evaluation budgets.

Explicit Non-Claims (certified_implies_authorized: false)

• does not ensure under declared assumptions that the generating model is free of bias or error

---

5. Operational Verification & Terminal Routing

5.1 Required Declarations

• source_facts
• transformations
• model_or_tool_calls
• uncertainty
• non_replayable_steps

5.2 Required Evidence

• fact_ids or tuple_ids
• model_version
• temperature or seed for replayable steps
• signature of the executing model/verifier

5.3 Validation Criteria

Criterion ID	Name	Condition
criterion	Check	derived data products must trace back to declared source facts
criterion	Check	non-replayable steps (e.g. sampling, external APIs) must be explicitly listed
criterion	Check	uncertainty bounds must be declared

5.4 Terminal Route Map

Every evaluation terminates in a declared local route mapped to a canonical terminal in standard.yaml:

Local Terminal Route	Canonical Terminal
ProvenanceTraced	Preserve
NonReplayableFlagged	Escalate
AuthorityHallucinationViolation	Reject
LineageLost	Refuse
Refuse	Refuse

5.5 Declared Failure Modes

• symptom: valid-sounding answer returned but no source facts or tool calls can be recovered, diagnosis: authority hallucination, terminal: AuthorityHallucinationViolation

---

6. Epistemic Claim Hygiene Quadrant

In accordance with the repository's epistemic claim discipline:

1. What it supports:
   • Supports syntactic and operational checking of nf.epistemic.pvnf (PvNF) against its declared schema, boundary constraints, and witness obligations in this model.
   • Supports deterministic terminal routing (ProvenanceTraced, NonReplayableFlagged, AuthorityHallucinationViolation, LineageLost) when required declarations or invariants fail.
2. What it does not support:
   • Does not confer operational authority (AuthorityEffect: None, certified_implies_authorized: false).
   • Does not claim semantic truth of undeclared external processes or unverified upstream inputs beyond the declaredprotected skeleton.
3. The narrowest defensible claim:
   • Within the declared substrate in_motion, this contract enforces that authority hallucination is either excluded under generated answer or derived data product carries source facts, transforms, model/tool calls, uncertainty, and non-replayable steps or routed to an explicit refusal/recovery terminal.
4. The next test needed:
   • Property-based falsification and mutation testing across boundary edge cases and composed multi-step pipelines for nf.epistemic.pvnf.

---

7. Canonical YAML Contract (contracts/nf.epistemic.pvnf.yaml)

Click to expand full canonical YAML contract (contracts/nf.epistemic.pvnf.yaml)

schema_version: smplx.nf.contract.v0
contract_kind: normal_form_contract
identity:
  id: nf.epistemic.pvnf
  name: Provenance Normal Form
  short_name: PvNF
  version: v0
  status: draft
  family: epistemic
  theory_status: proposed
  contract_status: draft
  verification_status: absent
classification:
  hierarchy_level: normal_form
  subject_kind:
  - distributed_claim
  data_posture: in_motion
  mathematical_posture: operational
purpose:
  excludes_anomaly: authority hallucination
  preserves_invariant: generated answer or derived data product carries source facts,
    transforms, model/tool calls, uncertainty, and non-replayable steps
  protected_skeleton:
  - source_facts
  - transformations
  - model_or_tool_calls
  - uncertainty
  - non_replayable_steps
  erased_structure:
  - intermediate_activations
  - raw_generation_phases
  non_claims:
  - does not ensure under declared assumptions that the generating model is free of bias or error
declarations_required:
- source_facts
- transformations
- model_or_tool_calls
- uncertainty
- non_replayable_steps
evidence_required:
- fact_ids or tuple_ids
- model_version
- temperature or seed for replayable steps
- signature of the executing model/verifier
validation_criteria:
- derived data products must trace back to declared source facts
- non-replayable steps (e.g. sampling, external APIs) must be explicitly listed
- uncertainty bounds must be declared
proof_obligations: []
terminal_routes:
- ProvenanceTraced
- NonReplayableFlagged
- AuthorityHallucinationViolation
- LineageLost
- Refuse
certification:
  certificate_required: true
  certificate_kind: provenance_certificate
  obstruction_class_required: false
  loss_ledger_required: true
  verifier_required: true
authorization:
  authorized_by: null
  certified_implies_authorized: false
failure_modes:
- symptom: valid-sounding answer returned but no source facts or tool calls can be
    recovered
  diagnosis: authority hallucination
  terminal: AuthorityHallucinationViolation
references:
- ../1_normal_forms.md
terminal_route_map:
  ProvenanceTraced: Preserve
  NonReplayableFlagged: Escalate
  AuthorityHallucinationViolation: Reject
  LineageLost: Refuse
  Refuse: Refuse
definition:
  source: coda_all_universe/mssn_sn_tower/definitions.md
  formal_statement: authority hallucination. generated answer or derived data product
    carries source facts, transforms, model/tool calls, uncertainty, and non-replayable
    steps
  quadrilateral:
    qualifies_as_true_normal_form: false
    qualification_gap: reconstruction_is_not_a_relational_project_join
    anomaly_exclusion: authority hallucination
    lossless_join:
      status: declared_reconstruction
      statement: generated answer or derived data product carries source facts, transforms,
        model/tool calls, uncertainty, and non-replayable steps
    dependency_preservation:
      status: declared_with_the_invariant
      statement: The preserved invariant stays on the declared schema. This form does
        not state a functional-dependency projection of a flat relvar decomposition.
    syntactic_decision:
      status: declaration_decidable
      statement: The check reads the declared constraints and validation criteria.
        One unrecorded runtime image is not the decider.
schema_ref: ./normal_form_contract_schema.yaml