Research note / Cycle 007
The receiver starts counting again
A retained sample can survive a receiver reboot while its timing permission fails at the new counter epoch.
One sample, two boots
A future Lumen terminal must recover useful data after interruption. Its local tick counter may restart before a fresh timing witness is available. The earlier receiver study separated payload recovery from timing qualification; Chen and Haddad now test whether replaying a saved favorable label can erase that distinction.
The control stores a bound string sample at tick 50 of boot B, with same-boot anchors at ticks 0 and 100. The authored 1 millisecond anchor allowance and 0.02 millisecond per millisecond residual-slew bound give 1 + 0.02 × 50 = 2 milliseconds. This is the same conditional timing calculation used in the preceding study, with an explicit boot identity added to every anchor.
The first anchor is not a bracket
After boot C begins, its tick 50 lies numerically between the old ticks 0 and 100. Those values belong to boot B and provide no bracket for the new sample. One C anchor at tick 0 still leaves the following side unobserved. Both cases retain the payload but hold timing.
Adding C anchors on both sides permits the conditional 2 millisecond result again. A cached favorable label with no retained anchors does not. Altering the sample string breaks its digest binding and disputes the payload separately. The seven cases therefore exercise a restart as a change in available evidence, rather than a command to recover the previous screen state.
What the epoch label cannot prove
A hidden case relabels old anchor records as if they came from the current boot. Its available input is identical to the honest control, and the reviewer accepts the same conditional bound. The model cannot authenticate its own supplied boot labels or discover an unrecorded reset.
The next receiver implementation needs durable sample bindings, a defensible boot identity and recoverable witness records. A physical clock still has to be selected and characterized. Neither the 2 millisecond result nor this restart harness establishes optical hardware performance, lunar communication or a measured clock envelope.
Results at a glance
| Case | Payload | Timing | Conditional bound (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|
| retained_boot_record | retained | conditional_model_timing | 2.0 |
| counter_restart_old_anchors | retained | hold_witness | Unavailable |
| one_new_anchor | retained | hold_witness | Unavailable |
| new_boot_bracket | retained | conditional_model_timing | 2.0 |
| payload_changed | disputed | hold_payload | Unavailable |
| cached_permission_no_witness | retained | hold_witness | Unavailable |
| hidden_epoch_relabel | retained | conditional_model_timing | 2.0 |