Witness, Authority and Scientific Recoverability

The completed Chronoflux Atlas contains a governed descendancy of scientific authorities from covariant continuity. Its second reader-facing stage must therefore do more than list those authorities. It must expose the derivation, physical realisation, witness, evidence, recoverability, persistence, falsification and boundary carried by each principal branch. I establish the scientific foundation for that task. A scientific authority is defined as a typed claim together with its dependencies, proof or controlled derivation, physical realisation, witness set, evidence object, Admissibility, Recoverability and Persistence certificate, falsification set, boundary record and lawful return. A node identifier is navigation, not explanation. A formal solution is not physical occupation. A successful fit is not recoverability where nuisance-projected degeneracy remains. A repeated fit is not persistence where the model changes after held-out exposure. The Atlas remains the canonical source as such. Reader-facing compendiums may add unlimited mathematical and explanatory depth, but they may not alter authority identity, standing, dependency or boundary without a new canonical authority. I prove that a compendium is scientifically authoritative at its declared scope exactly where every principal claim is derivationally and explanatorily closed, physically realised, witnessed, evidentially typed, ARP-certified, falsifiable where discriminating, boundary-faithful and traceably returned to the Atlas. This is the standard by which the witness compendiums will provide the full physical substance behind the recovered Tree of Nature. Keywords: scientific authority; physical realisation; witness; evidence; recoverability; persistence; falsification; boundary authority; Chronoflux Atlas; Tree of Nature