digital-drosophila/models/male-cns-lif/apl-timing-validation-v1/PROTOCOL.md

Phase 4AK — frozen D18 validation, not learning

Prerequisite: the entire Phase 4AJ fixed-CAL experiment was completed, sealed and published at cb6937666f. Its PASS is not evidence of usable learning. This stage tests the next necessary representation-generalization gate without adjusting the successful branch.

No new brain dynamics

Call the exact SHA-pinned AJ GPU, Brian oracle, comparison and timing code from their original absolute paths. Do not copy or patch their numerical functions, globals, signs, weights, thresholds, APL gain/tau, refractory or delay queue. Keep dt=0.1 ms, anatomical delay=18 steps, and whole generated graded-APL h applied 18 steps later. Preserve positive-zero initialization and pending tail; never advance brain time to drain the tail. Shared APL arithmetic limits the oracle independence claim. The 5845 fast-APL output mask, including 1212 unreplaced non-KC edges, is unchanged. No biological measurement claim.

Input registration and data boundary

Read only the four SHA-pinned original static 4L encoder files (panel, vectors, selection, mapping) and pinned encoder configuration/source. Extract only the unchanged pn_drive function AST; do not import or execute unrelated learning experiments. Validate the extraction and request generator against all 60 old AG CAL request/PN-drive arrays before generating any new brain trajectory. Keep the original 12-odor median 2.556107997894287 and original target/RNG column order. Matched energy is expected input, not exactly equal realized events.

Predeclare both 6-odor x2-mode x5-seed blocks, every sparse request schedule, source hash, gate, and stop rule before any new brain trajectory. Seeds are the fixed first five integers above 2^30, subject to the enumerated static collision audit. They are not chosen using simulation outcomes. Do not claim exhaustive historical uniqueness, statistical independence of RNG streams, or biological replication. Same seed across odors preserves the existing paired comparisons.

The second six odors are novel to AG/AJ calibration, not never simulated in project history: old 4L traversed the full panel. Never open old heldout dynamic results, mixed old result tables or conditioning/plasticity reports to choose inputs. Full frozen-integrity hashing may read opaque bytes for checksums; that is not permission to parse those outcomes. Static A/B identities are not used to select a favorable subset. No new resource download.

Ordered execution

1. Freshly run the two original AJ D18 fullgraph probe inputs. Verify every scientific output against sealed AJ, allowing only output budget/path differences in spec. Do not fake D0 to use a D0-only helper. Old eight-fixture proofs are source-pinned inherited evidence, not newly rerun fixture claims.
2. For original CAL odors on new seeds, fixed first odor/first seed in each mode is a Brian fullgraph probe, with independent LIF/own spikes/FIFO and the existing shared-APL component audit. Any numerical failure stops.
3. Complete the 60 seed-validation trajectories plus 12 exact repeats. Reuse the two probe GPU runs rather than duplicate them as independent samples.
4. Only if the entire seed block passes numerical, repeat and original representation gates, unlock the second block. Run the first static novel odor/first seed in each mode as two additional Brian probes, then complete that block's 60 trajectories and 12 repeats. All planned conditions remain visible; gated unexecuted cases are NOT PASS and are reported as such.
5. Recompute raw evidence, rerun the five old frozen reference trials into new output, verify every frozen artifact, and seal a truthful result.

Each cohort/mode separately retains every original six-part 4L gate: mean KC fraction in [3%,9%], all runs >0 and <50%, same-odor Jaccard > different-odor, between-odor Euclidean > within-odor, and at least 3 of 15 odor pairs passing their own two-odor within baseline. Every mode has 60 within comparisons and 75 between comparisons; each pair has 20 within and 5 between. No pooled 12-odor rescue, seed replacement, post-hoc metric/window/gate changes or scans.

Outcome scope

PASS-FROZEN-D18-INDEPENDENT-VALIDATION requires all four cohort/mode gates, complete data, fresh controls, oracle/component checks, exact repeats and old frozen integrity/reference PASS. Scientific failure remains FAIL; incomplete execution is not re-labelled scientific success. Passing does not generate a candidate, establish learning, prove delay biology or repair upstream AL loops. Next required gates remain credit specificity, real KC-to-MBON functional transfer, whole-brain stimulus-specific response, and controlled conditioning.

All outputs are new under phase4ak-apl-timing-validation. Previous Phase 1–4AJ, base CSR/W_syn/signs, eligibility-v2 and the 14232-edge plastic mask remain read-only. No training, reward interface, game, vision, decoder, RL or Web.