nf.pfp.pfnf

Proposal Fidelity Normal Form (PFNF)

Contract ID: nf.pfp.pfnf | Family: coda | Index Status: draft | AuthorityEffect: None

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1. Executive Summary & Metadata

Proposal Fidelity Normal Form (PFNF) enforces structural normalization and explicit defect routing in the coda regime.

Property	Value
Canonical ID	nf.pfp.pfnf
Short Name	PFNF
Full Name	Proposal Fidelity Normal Form
Family	coda (CODA Foundational Quotient, Representation Transport (CODA_MUR) & Proof-Fact Contracts)
Qualification	Extended Form Contract (Normal Form Contract)
Data / Math Posture	in_transformation
Index Status	draft
Theory Status	established
Verification Status	executable
Contract Version	v0
Governance Fence	AuthorityEffect: None (certified_implies_authorized: false)

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2. Visual Architecture & Normalization Diagram

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3. Concrete Worked Example & Mechanism

Visual Transition Summary

Stage	Carrier / Operator	Concrete State / Invariant
1. Before / Candidate Input	Input Carrier (PFNF Candidate)	Anomaly risk: counterfeit ; proposals that silently corrupt ; base state, inflate defect...
2. Normalization / Gate	PFNF Verification Gate	proposal fidelity tuple (... (certified_implies_authorized: false)
3. After / Certified Output	Certified PFNF Output	Invariant: ['base_carrier', ; 'proposed_diff', 'lift_morphism', ; 'retraction_morphism',...

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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.pfp.pfnf
Pillar I: Excludes Anomaly	Name and eliminate a specific class of data or state defects.	counterfeit proposals that silently corrupt base state, inflate defect cochains, or bypass retraction verification
Pillar II: Preserves Invariant	State the structural invariant and protected skeleton preserved across transitions.	Invariant: proposal fidelity tuple (u, r, delta) with base identity r o u = id and bounded defect evolution Protected Skeleton: ['base_carrier', 'proposed_diff', 'lift_morphism', 'retraction_morphism', 'defect_cochain']
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 proposal optimality or convergence in all settings
• does not mint authority

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5. Operational Verification & Terminal Routing

5.1 Required Declarations

• base_carrier
• proposed_diff
• lift_morphism
• retraction_morphism

5.2 Required Evidence

• base_retraction_receipt
• defect_cochain_bounds

5.3 Validation Criteria

Criterion ID	Name	Condition
criterion	Check	retraction morphism r restricts to identity on base carrier B (r(u(b)) = b for all b in B)
criterion	Check	mutation footprint is strictly confined to declared diff support
criterion	Check	defect norm does not exceed declared loss budget (Phi_1(P) <= Phi_1(B) + budget)
criterion	Check	verifier evaluation receipt carries AuthorityEffect None

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
AcceptFidelityProposal	Preserve
RejectBaseCorruption	Reject
RejectRetractionFailure	Reject
RejectDefectInflation	Refuse
RejectUndeclaredSideEffect	Reject
EscalateToArbiter	Escalate

5.5 Declared Failure Modes

• symptom: applying proposal modifies elements of the base carrier outside declared diff, diagnosis: base state corruption, terminal: RejectBaseCorruption
• symptom: down-map retraction r fails to invert lift u on base carrier, diagnosis: broken proposal retraction, terminal: RejectRetractionFailure
• symptom: proposal results in unbudgeted defect norm increase, diagnosis: defect inflation, terminal: RejectDefectInflation

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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.pfp.pfnf (PFNF) against its declared schema, boundary constraints, and witness obligations in this model.
   • Supports deterministic terminal routing (AcceptFidelityProposal, RejectBaseCorruption, RejectRetractionFailure, RejectDefectInflation) 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_transformation, this contract enforces that counterfeit proposals that silently corrupt base state, inflate defect cochains, or bypass retraction verification is either excluded under proposal fidelity tuple (u, r, delta) with base identity r o u = id and bounded defect evolution 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.pfp.pfnf.

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7. Canonical YAML Contract (contracts/nf.pfp.pfnf.yaml)

Click to expand full canonical YAML contract (contracts/nf.pfp.pfnf.yaml)

schema_version: smplx.nf.contract.v0
contract_kind: normal_form_contract
identity:
  id: nf.pfp.pfnf
  name: Proposal Fidelity Normal Form
  short_name: PFNF
  version: v0
  status: draft
  family: coda
  theory_status: established
  contract_status: draft
  verification_status: executable
classification:
  hierarchy_level: normal_form
  subject_kind:
  - proposal_packet
  - lift_morphism
  - retraction_morphism
  - defect_vector
  data_posture: in_transformation
  mathematical_posture: operational
purpose:
  excludes_anomaly: counterfeit proposals that silently corrupt base state, inflate defect cochains, or bypass retraction verification
  preserves_invariant: proposal fidelity tuple (u, r, delta) with base identity r o u = id and bounded defect evolution
  protected_skeleton:
  - base_carrier
  - proposed_diff
  - lift_morphism
  - retraction_morphism
  - defect_cochain
  erased_structure:
  - transient_scratchpad_history
  non_claims:
  - does not ensure under declared assumptions proposal optimality or convergence in all settings
  - does not mint authority
declarations_required:
- base_carrier
- proposed_diff
- lift_morphism
- retraction_morphism
evidence_required:
- base_retraction_receipt
- defect_cochain_bounds
validation_criteria:
- retraction morphism r restricts to identity on base carrier B (r(u(b)) = b for all b in B)
- mutation footprint is strictly confined to declared diff support
- defect norm does not exceed declared loss budget (Phi_1(P) <= Phi_1(B) + budget)
- verifier evaluation receipt carries AuthorityEffect None
proof_obligations:
- id: pfnf.base_retraction_invariance
  status: upstream_theorem
  ref: 030_the_symbol_game_proposal_fidelity_protocol_pfp
  section: 0_how_to_play_the_symbol_game
terminal_routes:
- AcceptFidelityProposal
- RejectBaseCorruption
- RejectRetractionFailure
- RejectDefectInflation
- RejectUndeclaredSideEffect
- EscalateToArbiter
terminal_route_map:
  AcceptFidelityProposal: Preserve
  RejectBaseCorruption: Reject
  RejectRetractionFailure: Reject
  RejectDefectInflation: Refuse
  RejectUndeclaredSideEffect: Reject
  EscalateToArbiter: Escalate
certification:
  certificate_required: true
  certificate_kind: proposal_fidelity_certificate
  obstruction_class_required: true
  loss_ledger_required: true
  verifier_required: true
authorization:
  authorized_by: null
  certified_implies_authorized: false
failure_modes:
- symptom: applying proposal modifies elements of the base carrier outside declared diff
  diagnosis: base state corruption
  terminal: RejectBaseCorruption
- symptom: down-map retraction r fails to invert lift u on base carrier
  diagnosis: broken proposal retraction
  terminal: RejectRetractionFailure
- symptom: proposal results in unbudgeted defect norm increase
  diagnosis: defect inflation
  terminal: RejectDefectInflation
definition:
  formal_statement: a proposal packet is in Proposal Fidelity Normal Form iff it supplies lift u, retraction r, and defect delta such that r(u(b)) = b on base carrier B, diff support is bounded, and defect evolution satisfies declared budgets
  quadrilateral:
    qualifies_as_true_normal_form: false
    qualification_gap: operational_protocol_not_relational_project_join
    anomaly_exclusion: counterfeit proposals, base state corruption, and unbudgeted defect inflation
    lossless_join:
      status: dual_state_reconstruction
      statement: base state is recovered losslessly via retraction r, proposed state via lift u
    dependency_preservation:
      status: base_invariants_preserved
      statement: base carrier invariants are preserved under retraction
    syntactic_decision:
      status: certificate_decidable
      statement: decidable by evaluating retraction on base support and verifying defect certificates
schema_ref: ./normal_form_contract_schema.yaml