rec arm outcome: rho->4.5 (norm-projected churn), prediction (a) confirmed through k=8; k16/32 cancelled

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

results-loop/PROTOCOL_UNIFIED.md

@@ -149,3 +149,17 @@ number for the unified adapter exists at time of writing.
     mean k_conv ≈ 3; hard-labeled items converge SLOWER than easy ones
     (adaptive compute allocates like ACT without any learned halting
     parameter).
+
+--- Outcome, item 11 (scored 2026-07-15, k=16/32 cells cancelled by
+decision after k<=8): PREDICTION (a) SUBSTANTIALLY CONFIRMED, with one
+twist. The unconstrained arm left contraction immediately (rho(A):
+0.3 -> 3.4 by step 100, plateau ~4.5) yet trained smoothly — per-iteration
+norm-matching converts magnitude explosion into directional churn, so
+"rho>=1 => divergence" becomes "rho>=1 => divergence OR stationary churn"
+under a norm projection. Consequences as predicted: substrate damage
+(easy 98.4 -> ~69% at all k>0, far exceeding any contractive arm's tax),
+val CE flat k=1..16 (stationary, not progressive), hard bucket at
+merge level (35.7/39.3/42.9% at k=2/4/8 — a one-item-per-depth-doubling
+crawl that at k=8 reaches what the contractive merge reaches at k=4,
+never approaching the amortization ceiling from above). 4x parameters
+bought nothing. Depth-monotone computation did not emerge at this budget.