Parallel-Chain Provenance with Structural Merge-Absence: A Cross-Domain Substrate for Multi-Authority Audit Trails

A data-structural substrate for tracking parallel independent assessments of the same external object such that (i) each authority's chain remains structurally non-fusible, (ii) cross-chain references can be expressed without content disclosure across authorities, and (iii) each chain's history is cryptographically verifiable. The substrate (provenance_engine_v2) provides identity-by-history at the primitive level: two records with identical fold-sequences are substrate-identical, while two records with diverging histories become substrate-distinct. Applicability is demonstrated across <strong>eight independent domains</strong> — patent prosecution, verifiable credentials, software bill-of-materials, AI model lineage, NGS variant interpretation, psychiatric assessment, credit rating actions, and bank credit intelligence — yielding <strong>1322 passing test cases (1322/1322)</strong> across the eight wrapper implementations. Seven of the eight domains exhibit merge-absence; the eighth (bank credit intelligence) introduces a confidentiality-preserving cross-reference primitive supporting existence queries across parallel chains without content disclosure. This work is positioned as <strong>defensive prior art</strong>, anchored by Bitcoin OpenTimestamps and Zenodo DOI on 2026-05-11. <strong>Rev 1.4 changes (vs. v1.1 / Rev 1):</strong> <ul> <li>§2.8 Para 2–3 replaced with a substrate/API-layer framing paragraph (PSI-cardinality concession front-loaded) plus four layer-correct contrast paragraphs against VeilAudit, GeoCross, zkCross, and ForensiCross.</li> <li>§1.3: new paragraph after Contributions articulating qualitative wrapper-cost implications of substrate-level placement, with explicit overclaim disclaimer.</li> <li>§4: new intro sentence before §4.1 contrasting eight-domain breadth against four cited cross-chain systems.</li> <li>Bibliography entries [32]–[35] appended (VeilAudit, GeoCross, zkCross, ForensiCross). zkCross venue: Proc. 33rd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security '24), pp. 6219–6235, August 2024.</li> <li>§2.8 Para 1 (PPRL/AudiWFlow/Harpocrates) and §6.3 (cross-architecture caveat) intentionally untouched.</li> <li>No substrate code or test count changes (still 1322/1322 across 8 domains).</li> </ul> <strong>Source repository:</strong> <a