A Scale-Dependent Empirical Taxonomy for Deficit-Fractal Governance: Paper A Registry Update v3.1

This record contains Paper A Registry Update v3.1 for the Deficit-Fractal Governance (DFG) Empirical Programme. This document updates the operating registry for the paper “A Scale-Dependent Empirical Taxonomy for Deficit-Fractal Governance.” It consolidates the Round 1–19 empirical programme into an authoritative v3.1 baseline for Paper A’s Tables 9–11, regime-boundary registry, Cross-Cell Consistency framework, and Regime-Search Methodology. The central conclusion is that the DFG empirical programme should be interpreted as a regime atlas rather than a theory cemetery. Cell-level incompatibility does not immediately imply theory-level falsification; instead, it triggers targeted search for operationalisation, substrate, observable, scale, or protocol mismatch. Theory-level retirement requires repeated incompatibility across exhaustively searched rescue paths. This v3.1 update integrates 24 experiment families, 31 executable experiment runs/sub-versions, 6 protocol scaffolds, 5 paper-quality syntheses, one cross-cell consistency note, and the Compatibility Atlas v1.3. Key updates include:- H1-family registry update: neural σ≈1 operating-point criticality is supported across 24 independent neural subjects and 44 subject × protocol observations, while universal neural τ≈3/2 remains quarantined; a synthetic Manna + Watts-Strogatz low-dissipation joint regime is located and finite-size robust.- H4-family registry update: financial critical slowing down is supported under substrate-matched observables across major financial crises.- H5-family registry update: recovery-time H5 is reframed as a dynamical Jacobian spectral-radius prediction, while graph Laplacian λ₂ is retained as an objective-dependent connectivity predictor.- Topology-Level Containment update: λ₂ predicts connectivity strength, with objective-dependent consequences for structural robustness and epidemic spread.- Intervention Paradox update: the paradox is located in nonlinear model classes and not supported in linear systems.- Cross-Cell Consistency framework: subject-level consistency across independent operationalisations is introduced as supportive evidence without propagating compatibility across cells. This record is part of the DFG Empirical Programme submission package and should be read together with the Compatibility Atlas v1.3.