Retention After Collapse A Minimal Architecture of Persistence Without Observation

This note introduces a minimal architectural framework for persistence under maximal collapse. Retention is defined not as memory, storage, or conservation, but as the irreducibility of difference once all conditions of observation, temporality, spatial reference, and dynamics are removed. Collapse is treated as a structural test that discriminates between dependent and independent forms, revealing residual structures that persist without reference, measurement, or ontology.