PCBA Doctrine
AUTH-REF Reviewer Doctrine v0.1
Authority-bound does not mean authority-substituting.
An authority-bound anatop reference is a derived Sovrient artifact that binds to external authority bytes through source catalogs and SHA-256 hashes. It is not the authority, does not replace the authority, and cannot be used as a compliance certification.
Citation Chain Rules
Every citation involving an authority-bound reference must chain in one of two directions.
Downward, what the authority says:
authority -> source SHA -> anatop twin node -> reviewer claim
Upward, what an iteration did against authority:
iteration evidence -> anatop twin node -> source SHA -> authority
Reviewers may not collapse the chain to “Sovrient's twin says X,” “AI RMF requires X,” or “We satisfy AI RMF X.”
Coverage Boundary
Raw coverage of authority-bound outcomes is analytic state, not a defect. Coverage becomes a defect only when source binding is broken, the twin validation suite fails, evidence mapping is internally inconsistent, or a declared coverage target regresses. Declared-target enforcement is deferred to AUTH-REF v0.2.
Drift Handling
If a drift-check receipt shows DRIFT_DETECTED, reviewers must treat the existing twin as superseded for new citation purposes, refuse new citations through the drifted twin, and require a fresh twin against the new authority bytes.