From 847f6fc9dd34465d6420176b85d935419ca2a767 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 17:57:18 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 01/17] Flatten arXiv payload and strip comments recursively

---
 aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh | 19 +++++++++++--------
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh b/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
index 3b94f8e..3a6e2e8 100755
--- a/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+++ b/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
@@ -25,16 +25,19 @@ echo "==> Assembling arXiv payload"
 WORKDIR="$(mktemp -d "${ROOT}/arxiv.XXXXXX")"
 trap 'rm -rf "${WORKDIR}"' EXIT
 
-# Copy only the needed files.
-rsync -a --prune-empty-dirs \
-  --include 'Makefile' \
-  --include '*.tex' \
-  --include 'main.bbl' \
-  --exclude '*' \
-  "${SRC}/" "${WORKDIR}/"
+# Copy only the needed files into a flat layout (arXiv requires no subdirs).
+find "${SRC}" -type f \( -name 'Makefile' -o -name '*.tex' -o -name 'main.bbl' \) -print0 \
+  | while IFS= read -r -d '' f; do
+    dest="${WORKDIR}/$(basename "$f")"
+    if [[ -e "${dest}" ]]; then
+      echo "Duplicate filename detected while flattening: $(basename "$f")" >&2
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    cp "$f" "$dest"
+  done
 
 # Strip full-line comments from .tex sources (keep inline %).
-find "${WORKDIR}" -maxdepth 1 -name '*.tex' -type f -print0 | while IFS= read -r -d '' f; do
+find "${WORKDIR}" -name '*.tex' -type f -print0 | while IFS= read -r -d '' f; do
   perl -ni -e 'next if /^\\s*%/; print' "$f"
 done
 

From 84121869a189adf870daf3552c084cd8516e3b83 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 17:59:48 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 02/17] Ensure comment stripping propagates errors and recurses

---
 aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh b/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
index 3a6e2e8..77934cc 100755
--- a/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+++ b/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ find "${SRC}" -type f \( -name 'Makefile' -o -name '*.tex' -o -name 'main.bbl' \
   done
 
 # Strip full-line comments from .tex sources (keep inline %).
-find "${WORKDIR}" -name '*.tex' -type f -print0 | while IFS= read -r -d '' f; do
+while IFS= read -r -d '' f; do
   perl -ni -e 'next if /^\\s*%/; print' "$f"
-done
+done < <(find "${WORKDIR}" -name '*.tex' -type f -print0)
 
 echo "==> Creating ax.tar at ${OUT}"
 tar -C "${WORKDIR}" -cvf "${OUT}" . >/dev/null

From 304275167a1f11c9d1c80aa3369b7d3157915c77 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 18:19:53 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 03/17] Wire arXiv tarball into build and release workflows

---
 .github/workflows/build-papers.yml  | 14 +++++++++++++-
 .github/workflows/release-paper.yml |  4 ++++
 2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
index 16f99ed..ca57b96 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ jobs:
         latexmk_use_xelatex: false
         args: -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error
 
+    - name: Build arXiv tarball
+      run: scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+
     - name: Upload PDF as artifact
       uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
       with:
@@ -31,6 +34,13 @@ jobs:
         path: aion-holography/main.pdf
         retention-days: 30
 
+    - name: Upload arXiv tarball as artifact
+      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+      with:
+        name: holography-paper-arxiv
+        path: ax.tar
+        retention-days: 30
+
     - name: Rename PDF for release
       if: github.event_name == 'release'
       run: |
@@ -41,4 +51,6 @@ jobs:
       if: github.event_name == 'release'
       uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
       with:
-        files: aion-holography/computational-holography-rmg.pdf
+        files: |
+          aion-holography/computational-holography-rmg.pdf
+          ax.tar
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
index e46c804..4d63e26 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ jobs:
           latexmk_use_xelatex: false
           args: -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error
 
+      - name: Build arXiv tarball
+        run: scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+
       - name: Set PDF path
         id: pdf
         run: |
@@ -50,5 +53,6 @@ jobs:
           generate_release_notes: true
           files: |
             AIon-Computational-Holography-${{ github.ref_name }}.pdf
+            ax.tar
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

From 29e108c8fee8db1a0dcdf9c0b7d76e5dacc938d0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 18:47:03 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 04/17] fix: Rewrote abstract

---
 aion-holography/main.tex | 30 +++++++++++++++---------------
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/aion-holography/main.tex b/aion-holography/main.tex
index b25ce4c..4af7d0d 100644
--- a/aion-holography/main.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/main.tex
@@ -68,21 +68,21 @@
 \input{titlepage}
 
 \begin{abstract}
-We develop a formal model of \emph{computational holography}: a way of
-representing a computation so that its entire interior evolution is
-encoded on the ``boundary''---the provenance payload on a single
-recursive metagraph edge.  Building on double--pushout graph rewriting
-in adhesive categories, we define Recursive Metagraphs (RMGs), give a
-deterministic concurrent operational semantics, prove tick-level
-confluence and a two-plane commutation theorem, and state conditions for
-global confluence.  We then introduce provenance payloads and show how
-they provide an information-complete, holographic encoding of a
-computation's history.  Finally, we define an MDL-based \emph{rulial
-distance} between observers, relate RMG dynamics to multiway systems and
-the Ruliad, and outline how this structure underlies the \AION{}
-\COMPUTER{}, a provenance-native computational model with deterministic,
-confluent tick semantics and a quasi-pseudometric geometry on
-observers.
+This paper develops a formal model of \emph{computational holography}: 
+representing a computation so that its entire internal evolution 
+is encoded on the boundary—specifically, the provenance payload of 
+a single recursive metagraph edge. We build on double-pushout graph 
+rewriting in adhesive categories to define Recursive Metagraphs (RMGs), 
+give a deterministic concurrent operational semantics, and prove 
+tick-level confluence together with a two-plane commutation theorem. 
+We also identify conditions for global confluence. Incorporating 
+provenance payloads yields an information-complete, holographic 
+encoding of computational history. Finally, we define an MDL-based 
+\emph{rulial distance} between observers, relate RMG dynamics to multiway 
+systems and the Ruliad, and outline how this structure supports the 
+\AION{} \COMPUTER{}: a provenance-native computational model with 
+deterministic tick semantics and a quasi-pseudometric 
+geometry on observers.
 \end{abstract}
 
 \clearpage

From b546bb04981c97a034af99d9a4a0d6aabebc141a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 18:52:06 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 05/17] fix: rewrote the introduction

---
 aion-holography/intro.tex | 36 ++++++++++++++++++------------------
 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)

diff --git a/aion-holography/intro.tex b/aion-holography/intro.tex
index 67a2842..4c7251f 100644
--- a/aion-holography/intro.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/intro.tex
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ \section{Introduction}
 \label{sec:intro}
 
 Modern computation is built on mutable state and loosely specified
-concurrency.  As systems become distributed, multi-core, and
+concurrency. As systems become distributed, multi-core, and
 AI-mediated, this leads to nondeterminism, opaque failure modes,
 unreproducible behavior, and fundamentally incomplete provenance.
 
@@ -22,13 +22,13 @@ \section{Introduction}
     (\cref{thm:tick-confluence,thm:two-plane,thm:global}); and
   \item the \emph{entire} interior evolution of a computation is stored
     in a compact \emph{provenance payload} attached to a single edge,
-    providing an information-complete ``holographic'' encoding.
+    yielding an information-complete holographic encoding.
 \end{itemize}
 
-The technical starting point is algebraic graph transformation using the
+Our technical starting point is algebraic graph transformation via the
 double--pushout (DPO) approach in adhesive categories, together with the
-Recursive Metagraph (RMG) object model we define in Section~\ref{sec:rmg}.
-We extend this setting with:
+Recursive Metagraph (RMG) object model introduced in
+Section~\ref{sec:rmg}. We extend this setting with:
 
 \begin{enumerate}[leftmargin=*]
   \item a precise notion of RMG state and its category;
@@ -36,9 +36,9 @@ \section{Introduction}
     attachment--then--skeleton publication, together with
     confluence results: tick-level determinism and two-plane
     commutation (Theorems~\ref{thm:tick-confluence} and
-    \ref{thm:two-plane}), and, under standard rewrite-theory
-    hypotheses, global confluence (Theorem~\ref{thm:global});
-  \item a provenance payload calculus giving \emph{computational
+    \ref{thm:two-plane}), and---under standard rewrite-theoretic
+    assumptions---global confluence (Theorem~\ref{thm:global});
+  \item a provenance payload calculus yielding \emph{computational
     holography};
   \item an MDL-based quasi-pseudometric on observers, the \emph{rulial
     distance}, and a correspondence between RMG derivations and
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@ \section{Introduction}
     Ruliad.
 \end{enumerate}
 
-We deliberately keep the system-level \AION{} stack\footnote{%
+We keep the system-level \AION{} stack\footnote{%
 Pronounced ``eye-ON'' (rhymes with \emph{aeon}), with stress on the second syllable.}
-(AIONOS, Echo, Wesley, etc.) mostly offstage in this paper, mentioning
-it only to motivate the mathematics.  The companion ``\COMPUTER{}''
-paper will build on these results to define the full machine model and
+(AIONOS, Echo, Wesley, etc.) largely offstage, mentioning it only to
+motivate the mathematical structure. A companion ``\COMPUTER{}'' paper
+will build on these results to define the full machine model and
 operating system.
 
 \medskip
@@ -63,12 +63,12 @@ \section{Introduction}
     deterministic semantics independent of scheduler serialization
     order;
   \item \emph{Two-plane commutation} (Theorem~\ref{thm:two-plane}):
-    attachment and skeleton updates can be applied in either order up to
-    isomorphism, via a fibration structure;
+    attachment and skeleton updates commute up to isomorphism via a
+    fibration structure;
   \item \emph{Worldline uniqueness} (Corollary~\ref{cor:worldline-uniqueness}):
-    global uniqueness of complete derivation worldlines up to typed
-    open graph isomorphism, extending per-tick commutation to
-    scheduler-independent whole runs;
+    uniqueness of complete derivation worldlines up to typed open
+    graph isomorphism, extending per-tick commutation to whole-run
+    semantics;
   \item \emph{Computational holography} (Theorem~\ref{thm:holography}):
     the boundary data $(S_0,P)$ is information-complete with respect to
     the interior evolution, enabling reconstruction of the full
@@ -77,4 +77,4 @@ \section{Introduction}
     an MDL-based quasi-pseudometric on observers that quantifies the
     complexity of translating between different views of the same
     computation.
-\end{enumerate}
+\end{enumerate}
\ No newline at end of file

From 8c3de77f31ad59b6c912a8480e170a5f0b12ed4e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 19:03:14 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 06/17] fix: section Standing Assumptions

---
 aion-holography/assumptions.tex | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/aion-holography/assumptions.tex b/aion-holography/assumptions.tex
index 607ab47..271cac1 100644
--- a/aion-holography/assumptions.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/assumptions.tex
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-\section*{Standing Assumptions}
+\section{Standing Assumptions}
 \label{sec:assumptions}
 
 For ease of reference, we summarise the main semantic assumptions

From 35eee2baa8527a2a057211a2bc27c591efd3b611 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 21:10:28 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 07/17] Point arXiv build step at correct script path

---
 .github/workflows/build-papers.yml  | 2 +-
 .github/workflows/release-paper.yml | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
index ca57b96..a81d75e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
         args: -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error
 
     - name: Build arXiv tarball
-      run: scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+      run: aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
 
     - name: Upload PDF as artifact
       uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
index 4d63e26..9497600 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ jobs:
           args: -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error
 
       - name: Build arXiv tarball
-        run: scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+        run: aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
 
       - name: Set PDF path
         id: pdf

From 3eed0643ca58e6b27b9e9b39a2e6b6d59585c73b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:20:15 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 08/17] fix: cref standing assumptions

---
 aion-holography/assumptions.tex            | 2 +-
 aion-holography/determinism_confluence.tex | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/aion-holography/assumptions.tex b/aion-holography/assumptions.tex
index 271cac1..607ab47 100644
--- a/aion-holography/assumptions.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/assumptions.tex
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-\section{Standing Assumptions}
+\section*{Standing Assumptions}
 \label{sec:assumptions}
 
 For ease of reference, we summarise the main semantic assumptions
diff --git a/aion-holography/determinism_confluence.tex b/aion-holography/determinism_confluence.tex
index 1aa08a8..819e852 100644
--- a/aion-holography/determinism_confluence.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/determinism_confluence.tex
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ \section{Determinism and Confluence}
 \label{sec:determinism}
 
 Throughout this section we work under the standing assumptions
-summarised in \cref{sec:assumptions}.
+summarised in the Standing Assumptions section.
 
 We sketch the concurrency discipline, define independence, and state the
 main confluence theorems for tick-level execution, working with RMG

From f5bf197bf88659041c4087a3011eb572071df98b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:41:26 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 09/17] fix: nits and accuracy

---
 aion-holography/dpo_rmg.tex |  2 +-
 aion-holography/intro.tex   | 38 +++++++++++++++++++------------------
 aion-holography/main.tex    |  2 +-
 3 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)

diff --git a/aion-holography/dpo_rmg.tex b/aion-holography/dpo_rmg.tex
index 518a75f..f394a73 100644
--- a/aion-holography/dpo_rmg.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/dpo_rmg.tex
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 \section{DPO Rewriting on Recursive Metagraphs}
 \label{sec:dpo-rmg}
 
-We briefly review double--pushout with interfaces (DPOI) rewriting on
+We briefly review double-pushout with interfaces (DPOI) rewriting on
 typed open graphs and lift it to RMG states.
 
 \subsection{Typed open graphs and DPOI rules}
diff --git a/aion-holography/intro.tex b/aion-holography/intro.tex
index 4c7251f..29126c0 100644
--- a/aion-holography/intro.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/intro.tex
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ \section{Introduction}
 \label{sec:intro}
 
 Modern computation is built on mutable state and loosely specified
-concurrency. As systems become distributed, multi-core, and
+concurrency. As systems become distributed, multicore, and
 AI-mediated, this leads to nondeterminism, opaque failure modes,
 unreproducible behavior, and fundamentally incomplete provenance.
 
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ \section{Introduction}
 \end{itemize}
 
 Our technical starting point is algebraic graph transformation via the
-double--pushout (DPO) approach in adhesive categories, together with the
-Recursive Metagraph (RMG) object model introduced in
+double-pushout (DPO) approach in adhesive categories. We pair this with
+the Recursive Metagraph (RMG) object model introduced in
 Section~\ref{sec:rmg}. We extend this setting with:
 
 \begin{enumerate}[leftmargin=*]
@@ -36,8 +36,9 @@ \section{Introduction}
     attachment--then--skeleton publication, together with
     confluence results: tick-level determinism and two-plane
     commutation (Theorems~\ref{thm:tick-confluence} and
-    \ref{thm:two-plane}), and---under standard rewrite-theoretic
-    assumptions---global confluence (Theorem~\ref{thm:global});
+    \ref{thm:two-plane}), and---under the standing assumptions and
+    standard rewrite-theoretic conditions---global confluence
+    (Theorem~\ref{thm:global});
   \item a provenance payload calculus yielding \emph{computational
     holography};
   \item an MDL-based quasi-pseudometric on observers, the \emph{rulial
@@ -46,12 +47,14 @@ \section{Introduction}
     Ruliad.
 \end{enumerate}
 
-We keep the system-level \AION{} stack\footnote{%
+We keep the system-level \AION{} stack\footnote{% 
 Pronounced ``eye-ON'' (rhymes with \emph{aeon}), with stress on the second syllable.}
 (AIONOS, Echo, Wesley, etc.) largely offstage, mentioning it only to
-motivate the mathematical structure. A companion ``\COMPUTER{}'' paper
-will build on these results to define the full machine model and
-operating system.
+motivate the mathematical structure; we assume only that implementations
+respect the axioms and invariants stated in Sections~\ref{sec:rmg}--\ref{sec:discussion},
+with scheduling, representation, and persistence details intentionally
+out of scope. A companion ``\COMPUTER{}'' paper will build on these
+results to define the full machine model and operating system.
 
 \medskip
 \noindent
@@ -63,18 +66,17 @@ \section{Introduction}
     deterministic semantics independent of scheduler serialization
     order;
   \item \emph{Two-plane commutation} (Theorem~\ref{thm:two-plane}):
-    attachment and skeleton updates commute up to isomorphism via a
-    fibration structure;
+    attachment and skeleton updates commute up to isomorphism;
   \item \emph{Worldline uniqueness} (Corollary~\ref{cor:worldline-uniqueness}):
-    uniqueness of complete derivation worldlines up to typed open
-    graph isomorphism, extending per-tick commutation to whole-run
-    semantics;
+    the interior derivation is uniquely determined up to typed open
+    graph isomorphism by the boundary data, extending per-tick
+    commutation to whole-run semantics;
   \item \emph{Computational holography} (Theorem~\ref{thm:holography}):
     the boundary data $(S_0,P)$ is information-complete with respect to
     the interior evolution, enabling reconstruction of the full
     derivation volume;
   \item \emph{Rulial distance} (Theorem~\ref{thm:rulial-triangle}):
-    an MDL-based quasi-pseudometric on observers that quantifies the
-    complexity of translating between different views of the same
-    computation.
-\end{enumerate}
\ No newline at end of file
+    the triangle-inequality property of an MDL-based quasi-pseudometric
+    on observers, capturing the complexity of translating between
+    different computational views.
+\end{enumerate}
diff --git a/aion-holography/main.tex b/aion-holography/main.tex
index 4af7d0d..5cb63ab 100644
--- a/aion-holography/main.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/main.tex
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
 
 \begin{abstract}
 This paper develops a formal model of \emph{computational holography}: 
-representing a computation so that its entire internal evolution 
+representing a computation so that its entire interior evolution 
 is encoded on the boundary—specifically, the provenance payload of 
 a single recursive metagraph edge. We build on double-pushout graph 
 rewriting in adhesive categories to define Recursive Metagraphs (RMGs), 

From 0d51bfb993c5346a2a3a11f04c17df21c51a8065 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:49:00 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 10/17] Harden build workflows and align DPO terminology

---
 .github/workflows/build-papers.yml  | 20 +++++++++++++++++---
 .github/workflows/release-paper.yml | 13 +++++++++++++
 aion-holography/intro.tex           |  4 ++--
 aion-holography/main.tex            |  2 +-
 4 files changed, 33 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
index a81d75e..182eed8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
@@ -25,9 +25,22 @@ jobs:
         args: -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error
 
     - name: Build arXiv tarball
-      run: aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+      run: |
+        chmod +x aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+        bash -euo pipefail aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+
+    - name: Verify arXiv tarball exists
+      if: success()
+      run: |
+        if [ -f ax.tar ]; then
+          echo "✅ ax.tar found; proceeding to upload"
+        else
+          echo "❌ ax.tar missing; make-arxiv.sh likely failed" >&2
+          exit 1
+        fi
 
     - name: Upload PDF as artifact
+      if: success()
       uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
       with:
         name: holography-paper-pdf
@@ -35,6 +48,7 @@ jobs:
         retention-days: 30
 
     - name: Upload arXiv tarball as artifact
+      if: success()
       uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
       with:
         name: holography-paper-arxiv
@@ -42,13 +56,13 @@ jobs:
         retention-days: 30
 
     - name: Rename PDF for release
-      if: github.event_name == 'release'
+      if: success() && github.event_name == 'release'
       run: |
         cd aion-holography
         cp main.pdf computational-holography-rmg.pdf
 
     - name: Upload PDF to release
-      if: github.event_name == 'release'
+      if: success() && github.event_name == 'release' && hashFiles('ax.tar') != ''
       uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
       with:
         files: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
index 9497600..5fa42fc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
@@ -28,6 +28,18 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build arXiv tarball
         run: aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
 
+      - name: Validate arXiv tarball
+        id: tarball_check
+        run: |
+          if [ -s ax.tar ]; then
+            echo "✅ ax.tar found and non-empty"
+            echo "present=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "❌ ax.tar missing or empty after make-arxiv.sh" >&2
+            echo "present=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
       - name: Set PDF path
         id: pdf
         run: |
@@ -44,6 +56,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Create GitHub Release
         id: create_release
+        if: success() && steps.tarball_check.outputs.present == 'true'
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
         with:
           tag_name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
diff --git a/aion-holography/intro.tex b/aion-holography/intro.tex
index 29126c0..25f8cc0 100644
--- a/aion-holography/intro.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/intro.tex
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ \section{Introduction}
     yielding an information-complete holographic encoding.
 \end{itemize}
 
-Our technical starting point is algebraic graph transformation via the
-double-pushout (DPO) approach in adhesive categories. We pair this with
+Our technical starting point is algebraic graph transformation via
+double-pushout (DPO) graph rewriting in adhesive categories. We pair this with
 the Recursive Metagraph (RMG) object model introduced in
 Section~\ref{sec:rmg}. We extend this setting with:
 
diff --git a/aion-holography/main.tex b/aion-holography/main.tex
index 5cb63ab..53ee210 100644
--- a/aion-holography/main.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/main.tex
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
 This paper develops a formal model of \emph{computational holography}: 
 representing a computation so that its entire interior evolution 
 is encoded on the boundary—specifically, the provenance payload of 
-a single recursive metagraph edge. We build on double-pushout graph 
+a single recursive metagraph edge. We build on double-pushout (DPO) graph 
 rewriting in adhesive categories to define Recursive Metagraphs (RMGs), 
 give a deterministic concurrent operational semantics, and prove 
 tick-level confluence together with a two-plane commutation theorem. 

From da8a31efb2b4a00b4c4634f005375d7d1d8d6ec0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:55:47 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 11/17] Install latexmk dependencies for arXiv packaging

---
 .github/workflows/build-papers.yml  | 3 +++
 .github/workflows/release-paper.yml | 3 +++
 2 files changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
index 182eed8..bacda93 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ jobs:
         latexmk_use_xelatex: false
         args: -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error
 
+    - name: Install LaTeX tools for arXiv packaging
+      run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y latexmk texlive-latex-recommended texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended
+
     - name: Build arXiv tarball
       run: |
         chmod +x aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
index 5fa42fc..c8583a6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ jobs:
           latexmk_use_xelatex: false
           args: -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error
 
+      - name: Install LaTeX tools for arXiv packaging
+        run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y latexmk texlive-latex-recommended texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended
+
       - name: Build arXiv tarball
         run: aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
 

From 6a24c1cd124fe9f4213e82781d906bb4fff46d2d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:58:55 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 12/17] Avoid duplicate latexmk runs and allow skipping in
 make-arxiv

---
 .github/workflows/build-papers.yml    | 2 +-
 .github/workflows/release-paper.yml   | 2 +-
 aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh | 8 ++++++--
 3 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
index bacda93..84ad8f6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Build arXiv tarball
       run: |
         chmod +x aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
-        bash -euo pipefail aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+        SKIP_LATEXMK=1 bash -euo pipefail aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
 
     - name: Verify arXiv tarball exists
       if: success()
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
index c8583a6..5c5bd10 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ jobs:
         run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y latexmk texlive-latex-recommended texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended
 
       - name: Build arXiv tarball
-        run: aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+        run: SKIP_LATEXMK=1 aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
 
       - name: Validate arXiv tarball
         id: tarball_check
diff --git a/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh b/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
index 72d5141..c4e3f1e 100755
--- a/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+++ b/aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
@@ -17,9 +17,13 @@ ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)"
 SRC="${ROOT}/aion-holography"
 OUT="${ROOT}/ax.tar"
 
-echo "==> Building PDF to refresh main.bbl"
 cd "${SRC}"
-latexmk -pdf main.tex >/dev/null
+if [[ "${SKIP_LATEXMK:-0}" == "1" ]]; then
+  echo "==> Skipping latexmk (SKIP_LATEXMK=1); assuming main.bbl is current"
+else
+  echo "==> Building PDF to refresh main.bbl"
+  latexmk -pdf main.tex >/dev/null
+fi
 
 echo "==> Assembling arXiv payload"
 WORKDIR="$(mktemp -d "${ROOT}/arxiv.XXXXXX")"

From 94aaa75d7469f3858582f6f9502398652591a6c9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:59:11 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 13/17] Simplify make-arxiv call in CI

---
 .github/workflows/build-papers.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
index 84ad8f6..ef60e9f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Build arXiv tarball
       run: |
         chmod +x aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
-        SKIP_LATEXMK=1 bash -euo pipefail aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
+        SKIP_LATEXMK=1 aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
 
     - name: Verify arXiv tarball exists
       if: success()

From aa06840dbb560288e65db6d753392cd2de7e9fdb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:59:31 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 14/17] Fail if ax.tar missing or empty; log size on success

---
 .github/workflows/build-papers.yml  | 5 +++--
 .github/workflows/release-paper.yml | 1 +
 2 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
index ef60e9f..45c6396 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
@@ -35,10 +35,11 @@ jobs:
     - name: Verify arXiv tarball exists
       if: success()
       run: |
-        if [ -f ax.tar ]; then
+        if [ -s ax.tar ]; then
           echo "✅ ax.tar found; proceeding to upload"
+          ls -lh ax.tar
         else
-          echo "❌ ax.tar missing; make-arxiv.sh likely failed" >&2
+          echo "❌ ax.tar missing or empty; make-arxiv.sh likely failed" >&2
           exit 1
         fi
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
index 5c5bd10..56a8aeb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           if [ -s ax.tar ]; then
             echo "✅ ax.tar found and non-empty"
+            ls -lh ax.tar
             echo "present=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           else
             echo "❌ ax.tar missing or empty after make-arxiv.sh" >&2

From 3d653b65184e1cf02ec88c57a6bf122066706907 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:59:47 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 15/17] Rely on explicit tarball check; drop redundant
 hashFiles guard

---
 .github/workflows/build-papers.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
index 45c6396..fc33826 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-papers.yml
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ jobs:
         cp main.pdf computational-holography-rmg.pdf
 
     - name: Upload PDF to release
-      if: success() && github.event_name == 'release' && hashFiles('ax.tar') != ''
+      if: success() && github.event_name == 'release'
       uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
       with:
         files: |

From 7fc7d201082ca44df9b6d1ba68b0cecfb03cbf63 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 03:00:07 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 16/17] Simplify tarball validation: fail hard, drop present
 output

---
 .github/workflows/release-paper.yml | 5 +----
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
index 56a8aeb..190b7ea 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-paper.yml
@@ -32,15 +32,12 @@ jobs:
         run: SKIP_LATEXMK=1 aion-holography/scripts/make-arxiv.sh
 
       - name: Validate arXiv tarball
-        id: tarball_check
         run: |
           if [ -s ax.tar ]; then
             echo "✅ ax.tar found and non-empty"
             ls -lh ax.tar
-            echo "present=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           else
             echo "❌ ax.tar missing or empty after make-arxiv.sh" >&2
-            echo "present=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
             exit 1
           fi
 
@@ -60,7 +57,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Create GitHub Release
         id: create_release
-        if: success() && steps.tarball_check.outputs.present == 'true'
+        if: success()
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
         with:
           tag_name: ${{ github.ref_name }}

From 4a957163b3a9d0640e59c84f1c817d31a191de78 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Kirby Ross" <james@flyingrobots.dev>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 03:03:02 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 17/17] Qualify worldline uniqueness bullet with standing
 assumptions

---
 aion-holography/intro.tex | 8 +++++---
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/aion-holography/intro.tex b/aion-holography/intro.tex
index 25f8cc0..4fbe1b7 100644
--- a/aion-holography/intro.tex
+++ b/aion-holography/intro.tex
@@ -68,9 +68,11 @@ \section{Introduction}
   \item \emph{Two-plane commutation} (Theorem~\ref{thm:two-plane}):
     attachment and skeleton updates commute up to isomorphism;
   \item \emph{Worldline uniqueness} (Corollary~\ref{cor:worldline-uniqueness}):
-    the interior derivation is uniquely determined up to typed open
-    graph isomorphism by the boundary data, extending per-tick
-    commutation to whole-run semantics;
+    under the standing assumptions (tick confluence, two-plane
+    commutation, conditional global confluence, and holography), the
+    boundary data $(S_0,P)$ determines the interior derivation uniquely
+    up to typed open graph isomorphism, extending per-tick commutation
+    to whole-run semantics;
   \item \emph{Computational holography} (Theorem~\ref{thm:holography}):
     the boundary data $(S_0,P)$ is information-complete with respect to
     the interior evolution, enabling reconstruction of the full