Research-Stack/6-Documentation/docs/hutter_jxl_starfield_eigenprobe_first_sweep_2026-05-10.md

Hutter JPEG XL Starfield Eigenprobe First Sweep

Status: FIRST_SWEEP_OBSERVATION_PROTOCOL_REPLAY_VERIFIED

Claim boundary: this is not a classifier, not a compressor, not a JPEG XL performance claim, and not a Hutter Prize claim. It is a visual/eigenprobe sidecar for asking:

huh, do these projected density patches look grouped like stars?

Core Idea

Use the existing eigenprobe logic on a JPEG XL-style image projection of a Hutter fixture. The image is not the payload authority. It is a temporary projection surface for grouping structure.

Hutter text fixture
  -> predetermined PIST map
  -> byte/window projection
  -> JPEG XL sidecar image
  -> pixel-density pattern collections
  -> eigenprobe over density groups
  -> "grouped stars" observation receipt

The analogy is to the stellar-gas work:

astronomy rows/cells -> eigenmass grouping
pixel-density cells  -> starfield-like grouping

The result is only a routing hint. If a density group looks meaningful, the next step is to return to the byte fixture and ask whether the original bytes, window hashes, and replay receipts support the grouping.

Predetermined PIST Map

The projection must use a predetermined PIST map before any density grouping is interpreted. This prevents the eigenprobe from inventing coordinates after seeing the pixels.

byte window
  -> fixed PIST coordinate
  -> fixed image cell / texel address
  -> pixel-density observation

The PIST map is the coordinate contract:

PIST field	First-sweep role
shell	coarse radial/grouping band
offset	local position inside shell
mass / SMN sidecar	expected semantic-load pressure
mirror / resonance relation	symmetry check for paired density patches
source_window_hash	byte provenance for the projected cell

Required map properties:

map_is_declared_before_projection
map_hash_recorded
every_density_component_links_to_pist_cells
unknown_or_unmapped_pixels_do_not_vote
observed_grouping_replays_against_byte_window_hashes

If a pixel-density component has no valid PIST map backlink, it is not evidence of a pattern. It is either projection noise or quarantine.

Why JPEG XL Is Useful Here

JPEG XL is useful as a sidecar because it is image-native and supports high fidelity transforms. For this protocol, that matters only as a projection surface:

not "JXL compresses Hutter better"
but "JXL-like projection gives us a pixel-density field to inspect"

No compression claim is allowed from this step.

Feature Surface

Minimum first-sweep features:

Feature	Meaning
pixel_density	local non-background occupancy or intensity
density_gradient	local change in density
connected_density_component	grouped patch candidate
component_area	size of density group
component_centroid	projected location
nearest_neighbor_distance	cluster spacing
local_contrast	group separability
pist_cell_id	predetermined PIST coordinate for the density cell
pist_map_hash	hash of the fixed map used before projection
source_window_hash	byte-window provenance

Eigenprobe Question

The first eigenprobe should ask:

Does the dominant direction describe density neighborhoods that are useful as
byte-window replay suggestions, or only projection noise?

Allowed observations:

OBSERVE_DENSITY_SUGGESTIONS
OBSERVE_NO_GROUPING
HOLD_PROJECTION_NOISE
QUARANTINE_MISSING_PROVENANCE

Forbidden observations:

CLASSIFIER_SUCCESS
COMPRESSION_GAIN
HUTTER_PROGRESS
JXL_SUPERIORITY
BYTE_SEMANTICS_PROVEN_BY_PIXELS
SORTING_SUCCESS
COMPONENT_RANKING_AUTHORITY

Enwik8 First Sweep Result

Receipt:

shared-data/data/stack_solidification/hutter_jxl_starfield/hutter_jxl_starfield_enwik8_first_sweep_receipt.json

Fixture:

dataset alias: wikien8_normalized_to_enwik8
source bytes: 63,569,920
slice bytes: 1,048,576
slice sha256: 4fb5efa9f35df431737731bf3c8f38a467b69731940ff82a4ee0e218aae58834

Projection:

PIST map: pist_byte_window_nibble_shell_map_v0
projection: 128 x 128 deterministic density field
JPEG XL sidecar: encoded lossless with cjxl

Observed density/eigenprobe:

suggested density neighborhoods: 691
components with PIST backlinks: 691
dominant share: 0.347477737176
residual_l2: 9.5e-11
decision: OBSERVE_DENSITY_SUGGESTIONS
ordering policy: scan order, not ranked
promotion policy: byte-window replay required and now satisfied for stored hints

Replay verification:

verifier: 4-Infrastructure/shim/hutter_jxl_starfield_replay_verify.py
replay receipt: shared-data/data/stack_solidification/hutter_jxl_starfield/hutter_jxl_starfield_enwik8_first_sweep_replay_receipt.json
unique byte-window hints extracted: 255
verified: 255
mismatches: 0
errors: 0
gate: REPLAY_VERIFIED

Controls:

Control	Components	Dominant share	Residual
shuffled pixel cells	1223	0.328761054432	2.1762e-07
randomized PIST cell assignment	1227	0.338212725353	8.5e-10
uniform density synthetic	1	0.0	n/a
phase-shifted projection	682	0.349323129954	1e-10

Interpretation:

The enwik8 slice produced density neighborhoods under the predetermined PIST
projection. Density is only a suggestion surface. This is not a classifier, not
a compression result, not a sorting result, not a byte-semantics proof, and not
Hutter progress. The stored density neighborhoods now have byte-window
provenance for their 255 unique source-window hints. This verifies provenance
only; it does not promote the suggestions into compression, sorting, semantic
classification, or Hutter progress.

Receipt Shape

{
  "protocol": "hutter_jxl_starfield_eigenprobe_first_sweep_v0",
  "fixture": {
    "fixture_id": "string",
    "source_path": "path",
    "source_sha256": "sha256",
    "byte_length": 0
  },
  "projection": {
    "projection_kind": "jpeg_xl_sidecar",
    "projection_tool": "declared_or_hold",
    "projection_hash": "sha256",
    "width": 0,
    "height": 0
  },
  "pist_map": {
    "map_id": "string",
    "map_hash": "sha256",
    "cell_count": 0,
    "unmapped_pixel_policy": "ignore_or_quarantine"
  },
  "density": {
    "cell_count": 0,
    "component_count": 0,
    "components_with_pist_backlinks": 0,
    "density_table_hash": "sha256",
    "component_table_hash": "sha256"
  },
  "eigenprobe": {
    "method": "power_iteration_or_declared",
    "dominant_share": 0,
    "residual_l2": 0,
    "converged": false,
    "dominant_vector_hash": "sha256"
  },
  "gate": {
    "decision": "OBSERVE_DENSITY_SUGGESTIONS|OBSERVE_NO_GROUPING|HOLD_PROJECTION_NOISE|QUARANTINE_MISSING_PROVENANCE",
    "claim_boundary": "not_classifier_not_compression_claim"
  }
}

Next Fixture Gate

Current gate status:

1. The byte fixture has source path, byte length, and SHA-256.
2. The PIST map is declared before projection and hashed.
3. The projection has a hash and deterministic generation command.
4. Density components backlink to PIST cells and source windows.
5. The eigenprobe has negative controls:
   • shuffled pixel cells
   • randomized source-window mapping
   • randomized PIST cell assignment
   • uniform-density synthetic image
   • phase-shifted projection
6. The stored source-window hints were checked against byte-level replay receipts: 255/255 verified.

Decision:

ADMIT_FIRST_SWEEP_PROTOCOL_REPLAY_VERIFIED