Publication plot checklist

This page defines what counts as a publication-ready MHX figure or movie. It is not a style guide only; it is a scientific evidence checklist. A polished plot with a weak gate should not appear as a physics result.

Global figure rules

Every figure included in the paper-style documentation should have:

• a command that regenerates it;

• an output file path and schema;

• a source-code link for the computed quantity;

• a test that fails if the underlying gate fails;

• axis labels with physical or normalized units;

• a caption that states the claim level;

• a limitation sentence when the result is analytic, FAST, or validation-only;

• fixed color ranges for movies or multi-panel image comparisons;

• a manifest entry with SHA-256 checksum;

• a passing python examples/tools/verify_paper_artifacts.py check before reviewer handoff.

Current figure readiness

Figure family	Files	Claim level	Paper readiness
Exact resistive decay	decay_amplitude.png, decay_energy.png, decay_relative_error.png	validation	Ready as a linear diffusion/operator gate.
Reconnection scaling formulas	fkr_scaling.png, plasmoid_scaling.png, ideal_tearing_scaling.png	validation	Ready only as analytic theory targets.
FKR window and growth assembly	fkr_constant_psi_window.png, fkr_growth_rate.png	validation	Ready as asymptotic-target scaffolding, not direct PDE recovery.
Harris \(\Delta'\) and eigenvalue	harris_delta_prime.png, linear_tearing_eigenvalue.png	validation	Ready as tearing-specific validation for documented regimes.
Dispersion/layer/time replay	linear_tearing_dispersion.png, linear_tearing_layer.png, linear_tearing_timedomain.png	validation	Ready as FAST branch, shape, and growth-fit gates.
Periodic current sheet	periodic_current_sheet_spectrum.png, periodic_current_sheet_timedomain.png, periodic_current_sheet_nonlinear_bridge.png	validation	Ready as operator and differentiability gates.
Periodic double-Harris growth	periodic_double_harris_nonlinear_growth.png	validation	Ready as small-grid instability-path evidence; not a Rutherford/plasmoid production claim.
Seeded double-Harris long run	periodic_double_harris_seeded_long_run.png, optional flux/current GIFs, residual-flux GIFs	validation	Ready as bounded nonlinear evidence with early growth, response amplification, X/O counts, and dissipative energy; reviewer media should include residual flux or proxy histories, and production claims still need seed/aspect-ratio/Lundquist sweeps.
Seeded double-Harris convergence	periodic_double_harris_convergence.png	validation	Ready as convergence-backed validation evidence, including the medium GPU-assisted 32/48/64 sweep and latest bounded 64/96/128 GPU gate; still not production plasmoid/Rutherford evidence.
Seeded double-Harris parameter sweep	periodic_double_harris_parameter_sweep.png	validation	Ready as finite-response robustness evidence across mode/width/resistivity sweeps; still not a scaling-law or production reconnection claim.
Seeded double-Harris promotion report	promotion_matrix.png, promotion_readiness.json	validation only	Ready as the boundary between single-run media and convergence-backed validation evidence; not a production physics gate.
Nonlinear energy budget	nonlinear_energy_budget.png	validation	Ready as nonlinear conservation/dissipation evidence.
Orszag–Tang vortex media	orszag_tang_summary.png, optional flux/current/vorticity GIFs	validation	Ready as nonlinear reduced-MHD morphology and high-\(k\) transfer evidence, not full-MHD shock validation.
Decaying turbulence media	decaying_mhd_turbulence_summary.png, optional flux/current GIFs	validation	Ready as deterministic reduced-MHD turbulence morphology and current-filament evidence; not turbulence-statistics evidence.
Forced turbulent reconnection media	forced_turbulent_reconnection_summary.png, optional flux/current GIFs, readiness/promotion_matrix.png	validation	Ready as a pedagogical forced current-sheet/reconnection-proxy example with a validation-only readiness gate; not 3-D fast-reconnection evidence.
Nonlinear duration audit	nonlinear_duration_audit.png	validation	Ready as an overclaim-prevention figure.
Seed-robust QI	qi_summary.png	validation	Ready as FAST seed-sensitivity evidence after generation in the evidence bundle.
Seed-robust QI sweep	qi_sweep_cv.png, qi_sweep_mean_drift.png	validation	Ready as FAST perturbation-amplitude sensitivity evidence.
Rutherford FAST runner	rutherford_fast_histories.png	validation	Ready as schema/diagnostic demonstration only.
Readiness report	readiness_matrix.png	validation	Ready as a release-vs-paper claim boundary figure.
Rutherford production executor	production_histories.png, current_sheet_aspect_ratio.png, optional fixed-scale GIFs	validation for partial chunks; production only after passing promotion	Ready as restart/resume execution evidence; the adcc714 GPU lane has one passing production-promotion response bundle.
Rutherford promotion gate	promotion_matrix.png, promotion_readiness.json	production only if every gate passes	Ready as the machine-readable boundary between validation chunks and reviewer-facing production claims.
Rutherford production physics	long-run histories, convergence figures, seed-QI evidence, fixed-scale movies, response diagnostics, and promotion report	production for positive-response current-sheet campaigns after full target completion and a passing rutherford-promotion-check report	The 20260525 GPU campaign passes the response-promotion gate; remaining paper-grade work is Rutherford algebraic scaling across amplitudes and equilibria.
Plasmoid production	not generated	none	Not ready. Requires long thin sheet, secondary islands, and convergence.
Neural ODE dataset/baselines	dataset_targets.png, baseline_rmse.png, calibration_coverage.png	validation	Ready as reproducibility protocol.
Fitted latent ODE	latent_ode_predictions.png, latent_ode_rmse_comparison.png	validation	Ready as FAST train/test evidence; not yet production surrogate evidence.

Validation figures already shipped

The strongest current tearing-specific result is the direct Harris-sheet eigenvalue gate:

The strongest current nonlinear code-validity result is the energy-budget gate:

The strongest current nonlinear instability-path result is the double-Harris growth gate:

The strongest current scalable nonlinear replay is the seeded double-Harris long-run gate:

The current nonlinear evidence boundary is the double-Harris promotion report, the medium GPU-assisted resolution/time-step validation sweep, and the latest bounded GPU validation gate:

The most important claim-boundary figure is the nonlinear duration audit:

These claim-boundary figures should be shown together in reviewer discussions: one tearing benchmark, one nonlinear growth-path gate, one seeded long-run response plot, one convergence-backed validation sweep, one nonlinear identity, and one explicit warning that short nonlinear runs are not island/plasmoid evidence.

The latest GPU bundle, outputs/campaigns/gpu_nonlinear_20260522_085049/double_harris_long_n128_t160, is ready only as validation media: the local summary reports gate_ready = true, production_claim_ready = false, and claim_level_if_gates_pass = "validation". It passes duration, convergence, X/O-count, reconnecting-flux, island-width, fixed-scale movie, and manifest gates with reconnected_flux_amplification = 8.356, island_width_amplification = 2.891, max_x_point_count = 4, and max_o_point_count = 2. The remaining production blockers are the explicit validation-only promotion declaration, lack of Rutherford/Sweet-Parker/plasmoid physics target, and missing production-scale seed, width/aspect, Lundquist, duration, and independent production-claim promotion evidence.

Nonlinear plot acceptance gates

Before adding a nonlinear island or plasmoid plot to the paper set, require:

1. duration_assessment.json passes with the declared growth rate.

2. histories.npz contains reconnected flux, island width, reconnection rate, energy terms, divergence error, and current-sheet geometry.

3. validation.json includes pass/fail checks for duration, finite values, energy-budget residual, divergence, and convergence.

4. The plotted interval includes the linear phase and the nonlinear phase being claimed.

5. Resolution and time-step comparison curves appear on the same axes or in a companion panel.

6. Movies show flux and current with fixed color limits and a clear timestamp.

7. Seeded double-Harris media include residual flux \(\psi_\mathrm{perturbed}-\psi_\mathrm{base}\) or proxy histories next to raw total-field movies.

8. mhx campaign rutherford-promotion-check passes with the convergence and seed-QI bundle paths used for the paper artifact.

9. The promotion report shows peak/initial reconnecting-flux and island-width amplification above the declared thresholds; purely dissipative duration tests remain validation artifacts.

Neural-ODE figure acceptance gates

Neural-ODE figures should not be added as novelty claims until the experiment has:

• deterministic dataset generation from solver trajectories;

• train/validation/test splits that are saved in the manifest;

• at least one non-neural baseline such as persistence or AR(1);

• metric plots for MAE/MSE on \(f_\mathrm{kin}\) and \(C_\mathrm{plasmoid}\);

• calibration or uncertainty diagnostics if probabilistic outputs are used;

• failure-case examples where the surrogate extrapolates poorly;

• source-linked training and evaluation code.

The current FAST latent-ODE artifacts satisfy these gates as a validation workflow and belong in the methods/reproducibility section. They should not be used as novelty claims about production reconnection surrogates until the same protocol is run on production-quality nonlinear trajectories and remains superior to baselines on held-out regimes.

Movie rules

Movies are effective for reviewer communication but dangerous for overclaiming. Every movie should state one of:

• validation movie: generated from a validated benchmark or operator replay;

• theory schematic: generated from formulas, not from MHX nonlinear PDE data;

• production movie: generated from a long production run with convergence and manifest evidence.

Double-Harris public media has an extra residual-flux rule: raw total-flux movies are acceptable QA artifacts, but reviewer/publication media should show the seeded response with \(\Delta\psi=\psi_\mathrm{perturbed}-\psi_\mathrm{base}\), reconnection-proxy histories, or a gate-summary table. A visually clear residual-flux movie still inherits the manifest claim level; it does not turn a validation promotion into a production claim.

The README currently ships validation/theory movies only:

• README media docs

• media generator

• media tests

Source map for publication plots

• Paper artifact verifier

• Validation media generator

• README media generator

• Figure manifest

• Double-Harris validation and promotion checks

• Forced turbulent-reconnection readiness

• Reduced-MHD plotting helpers

• Artifact manifests

• Docs-link tests