R03

Selection and persistent records

Conditions for a unique surviving candidate, symmetry obstructions and conditional record stability.

Current foundationsPaper overview and reading guideManuscript PDF available

This page is a reading guide written for the website. It is not the manuscript and does not reproduce its proofs. The manuscript PDF is linked below; authors, version and release date will be shown once verified. “Current foundations” does not by itself mean peer reviewed or experimentally confirmed.

Purpose

The question addressed

R03 determines when a shrinking family of candidates reaches a unique survivor, when symmetry prevents it, and under what conditions a record remains stable.

Mathematical starting point

Objects and premises used

  • A finite, exhaustive family of mutually exclusive candidates and a nested admissibility law C(s2)⊆C(s1)C(s_2) \subseteq C(s_1) for s2≥s1s_2 \ge s_1, from R01.
  • Positive finite loss times TrT_r supplied by the model.

Main results

What the paper establishes

  • The last-survivor criterion (Theorem R03.1).
  • Ties at the largest loss time pass straight from two or more candidates to none, so no A6 event occurs.
  • Record stability is conditional on the dynamics of the recording system.

Theorem R03.1: The last-survivor criterion

Result statement (summary)
For a finite candidate set with at least two members, each candidate rr having a positive finite loss time TrT_r and C(s)={r:s<Tr}C(s) = \{ r : s < T_r \}, a singleton occurs before extinction exactly when the largest loss time is unique. The first singleton occurs at the second-largest loss time.
Assumptions and scope: The loss times are supplied by the model. The theorem identifies a singleton; it does not explain the physical origin of the loss law.

The full proof is given in the R03 manuscript (PDF).

Explanation

Worked example: three candidates

With TA=2T_A = 2, TB=1T_B = 1 and TC=3T_C = 3, B leaves at stage 1 and A at stage 2. C is the first unique survivor at s=2s = 2, the second-largest loss time, and is recorded.
If TA=TBT_A = T_B were the largest loss time, A and B would leave together and no record would be made.

More on the mathematics page: Last-survivor selection →

Physical interpretation and scope

What connects this to physics

The theorem identifies a singleton in a supplied process. A6 adopts that singleton as realised. Explaining the physical loss law is a further task for the model.

Read, download and cite

Using this paper

R03. “Selection and persistent records.” Phase Differential Theory current foundations. https://www.phasedifferentialtheory.com/foundations/r03

BibTeX will be offered when verified authors, version and release date are available. All citations

Reading order is expository and is not a claim that each premise is derived in the preceding paper.