Evidence Authority After Retrieval: A Control-Surface Framework for RAG and Agentic Systems

This paper is a companion to the prior LatentAtlas methodology preprint, Relevance Is Not Authority. It develops the post-preprint thesis that evidence authority should be treated as an operating control surface between retrieval and downstream use in RAG and agentic systems.

The paper introduces a minimal evidence authority packet, separates retrieval, qualification, generation, action/publication, and audit planes, and argues that review, learning, and release-readiness must remain governed states rather than implicit permission.