Marcin Pawlowski f1433cbbb3
Anchor the uncle reference window to the parent, not the uncle
The spec bounds an uncle's own slot (0 < sl_A - sl_U <= w_u) but leaves its
PARENT unconstrained beyond lying on the referencing chain. So a block minted
NOW, built on a chain block from arbitrarily far back, is a legal first-fork
uncle: recent by its own slot, ancient by its parent's. Verifying it means
deriving the epoch state and ledger root as of that ancient parent, per
reference, and those are precisely the inputs the counting rules require -- so
the work cannot be amortised. It costs the adversary nothing beyond lottery
wins it already has; it just builds them somewhere useless.

Measured with a deep_parent coalition. At the deployed operating point a 30%
adversary moves the MEDIAN counted reference's reach from 54 slots back to
20,144, and the worst case to 76,778 -- the epoch boundary, ~21 hours of
history, ~256x the nominal window. It is not a tail effect.

The fix is a SUBSTITUTION, not an additional rule. A block strictly postdates
its parent and a referenced uncle strictly precedes its referencer, so
sl_A - sl_U < sl_A - sl_parent(U) <= w_u: bounding the parent bounds the uncle
for free, and a both-windows variant would be identical to the parent one. Both
invariants are pinned in a new test_slot_ordering.py rather than argued -- the
user asked to confirm sl_A > sl_U explicitly, and it turns out to be
load-bearing for the whole implication, so it is tested at three geometries
plus a hand-built counting case.

Under the parent anchor the same coalition reaches 292/300/300 slots at
delta_max 4/8/16 -- capped by construction. Honest recovery is unaffected:
0.9993 -> 0.9999, 0.9969 -> 0.9986, 0.9791 -> 0.9858, no loss anywhere within
one to two SEM, because a latency orphan's parent is recent by construction.

One finding that sharpens the case: at delta_max = 16 the HONEST uncle-anchored
arm already reaches 315 slots, past its own w_u = 300. Under the current rule
w_u is not a bound on validation reach even with no adversary present. It only
becomes a state-retention bound once anchored to the parent.

Recorded as sec 6.12 with fig38, a new row in the sec 8.5 spec deltas, both new
knobs in sec 7, and the study in sec 9. uncle_window_anchor and the deep_parent
strategy are appended to the RNG key only when non-default, so no committed run
is reseeded.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-07 12:22:50 +02:00

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"""Should the uncle reference window be measured to the uncle, or to its PARENT? (fig38)
The spec bounds the uncle's own slot: `0 < sl_A - sl_U <= w_u`. Its **parent** is unbounded —
the only requirement is that it lie on the referencing chain. So a block minted now, hanging off
a chain block from arbitrarily far back, is a legal first-fork uncle: recent by its own slot,
ancient by its parent's. Verifying it means deriving the epoch state and ledger root as of that
ancient parent, per reference, and an adversary mints them at no cost beyond lottery wins it
already has.
The proposal: measure the window to the parent instead, `sl_A - sl_parent(U) <= w_u`.
That is strictly tighter rather than an additional rule. A block strictly postdates its parent
and a referenced uncle strictly precedes its referencer (both pinned in
`tests/test_slot_ordering.py`), so
sl_A - sl_U < sl_A - sl_parent(U) <= w_u
and bounding the parent bounds the uncle for free. A "both windows" variant would be identical
to the parent one, so only two arms are simulated.
Two questions, and they trade off:
* **What does it buy?** The effort an adversary can force, measured as the age of the oldest
chain state a validator must reach for a *counted* reference.
* **What does it cost?** Honest recovery. A latency orphan's parent is recent by construction,
so the prediction is ~nothing — but the parent gap runs about one block-interval longer than
the uncle gap, so the same numeric `w_u` is effectively a tighter window and the margin
shrinks as delay grows. This sweeps delay to find where it starts to bind.
Run: python scripts/uncle_parent_window.py (writes runs/uncle_parent_window.parquet + fig38)
"""
from __future__ import annotations
from pathlib import Path
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
from joblib import Parallel, delayed
from tsi_sim import lottery, topology
from tsi_sim.blocktree import build_tree_pernode
from tsi_sim.config import SimConfig
from tsi_sim.engine import _adversary_mask, run_trajectory
from tsi_sim.plotting import style
from tsi_sim.rng import rng_for, seedseq_for
from tsi_sim.stake import make_stake
HERE = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
RUNS = HERE / "runs"
FIGS = HERE / "report-figures"
RUNS.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
FIGS.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
REPS = 10
N_JOBS = 10
ANCHORS = ["uncle", "parent"]
DELAYS = [4.0, 8.0, 16.0] # the deployed point, the report's design point, the boundary
ADVS = [0.0, 0.3]
BASE = dict(n_nodes=600, stake_dist="pareto", topology="blend", degree=6,
link_latency_mean=0.5, link_latency_dist="geo", blend_hops=3,
max_uncles=4, uncle_strategy="oldest", window_absorption=10.0,
k=256, epochs=10, genesis_d_factor=0.5, early_stop=False,
prune_arrival=False, windowed_fork_choice=False)
def _recovery(anchor: str, delay: float, adv: float, rep: int) -> dict:
"""Accuracy arm: what the estimator lands on under each rule."""
cfg = SimConfig(**BASE, uncle_window_anchor=anchor, blend_delay_max=delay,
adversary_frac=adv, adversary_strategy="deep_parent", replicate=rep)
t = pd.DataFrame(run_trajectory(cfg))
t = t[t.epoch >= t.epoch.max() // 2]
return dict(anchor=anchor, blend_delay_max=delay, adversary_frac=adv, rep=rep,
mean_ratio=float(t.mean_ratio.mean()), p_ref=float(t.p_ref.mean()),
fork_rate=float(t.fork_rate.mean()),
range_ratio=float(t.range_ratio.max()))
def _effort(anchor: str, delay: float, adv: float, rep: int) -> dict:
"""Effort arm: how far back a validator must reach for the references that COUNT.
Rebuilds one epoch's tree and reads the parent gap of every reference the counting rule
would accept — the direct proxy for historical state a validator must materialise.
"""
cfg = SimConfig(**{**BASE, "epochs": 2}, uncle_window_anchor=anchor,
blend_delay_max=delay, adversary_frac=adv,
adversary_strategy="deep_parent", replicate=rep)
kids = seedseq_for(cfg).spawn(cfg.epochs + 3)
stake = make_stake(cfg, rng_for(cfg))
mask = _adversary_mask(cfg, stake)
pl = topology.build_path_latency(cfg, np.random.default_rng(kids[1]))
d = np.full(cfg.n_nodes, cfg.genesis_d_factor * float(stake.sum()))
ws, wn = lottery.sample_wins(lottery.win_probs(stake, d, cfg.f), cfg.epoch_len,
np.random.default_rng(kids[3]))
slots, groups = lottery.group_by_slot(ws, wn)
tree, _A = build_tree_pernode(slots, groups, pl, cfg, np.random.default_rng(kids[4]),
adversary_mask=mask)
s, par = tree.slot, tree.parent
gaps = np.array([int(s[b] - s[par[u]])
for b in range(1, tree.n_blocks) for u in tree.uncles[b]], dtype=np.int64)
if gaps.size == 0:
gaps = np.zeros(1, dtype=np.int64)
return dict(anchor=anchor, blend_delay_max=delay, adversary_frac=adv, rep=rep,
n_refs=int(gaps.size), gap_median=float(np.median(gaps)),
gap_p99=float(np.percentile(gaps, 99)), gap_max=int(gaps.max()),
distinct_parent_slots=int(np.unique(gaps).size))
def sweep() -> tuple[pd.DataFrame, pd.DataFrame]:
jobs = [(a, d, v, r) for a in ANCHORS for d in DELAYS for v in ADVS for r in range(REPS)]
par = Parallel(n_jobs=N_JOBS, backend="loky", inner_max_num_threads=1)
rec = pd.DataFrame(par(delayed(_recovery)(*j) for j in jobs))
eff = pd.DataFrame(par(delayed(_effort)(*j) for j in jobs))
rec.to_parquet(RUNS / "uncle_parent_window.parquet", index=False)
eff.to_parquet(RUNS / "uncle_parent_window_effort.parquet", index=False)
return rec, eff
def report(rec: pd.DataFrame, eff: pd.DataFrame, w: int) -> None:
print(f"\n=== what it COSTS: honest recovery (adversary_frac = 0), w_u = {w} slots ===")
print(f"{'δ_max':>6} {'ρ':>6} | {'uncle-anchored':>18} {'parent-anchored':>18} {'Δ':>9}")
for d in DELAYS:
row = []
for a in ANCHORS:
g = rec[(rec.anchor == a) & (rec.blend_delay_max == d) & (rec.adversary_frac == 0)]
row.append((g.mean_ratio.mean(), g.mean_ratio.sem()))
rho = SimConfig(**BASE, blend_delay_max=d).f * (3 * d / 2 + 4 * 0.5)
print(f"{d:6.0f} {rho:6.2f} | {row[0][0]:10.4f}±{row[0][1]:.4f} "
f"{row[1][0]:10.4f}±{row[1][1]:.4f} {row[1][0] - row[0][0]:+9.4f}")
print("\n=== what it BUYS: age of chain state a counted reference reaches (slots) ===")
print(f"{'δ_max':>6} {'adv':>5} | {'anchor':>7} {'refs':>6} {'median':>9} "
f"{'p99':>9} {'max':>9}")
for d in DELAYS:
for v in ADVS:
for a in ANCHORS:
g = eff[(eff.anchor == a) & (eff.blend_delay_max == d) & (eff.adversary_frac == v)]
flag = "" if g.gap_max.max() <= w else " <-- EXCEEDS w_u"
print(f"{d:6.0f} {v:5.1f} | {a:>7} {g.n_refs.mean():6.0f} "
f"{g.gap_median.mean():9.0f} {g.gap_p99.mean():9.0f} "
f"{g.gap_max.max():9.0f}{flag}")
def fig38(rec: pd.DataFrame, eff: pd.DataFrame, w: int) -> None:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
style.apply_style()
fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(9.6, 3.8))
ax = axes[0]
for i, a in enumerate(ANCHORS):
g = (rec[(rec.anchor == a) & (rec.adversary_frac == 0)]
.groupby("blend_delay_max").mean_ratio.agg(["mean", "sem"]).reset_index())
ax.errorbar(g.blend_delay_max, g["mean"], yerr=g["sem"], marker="o", ms=4, capsize=2,
color=style.OKABE_ITO[i + 1], label=f"{a}-anchored window")
ax.axhline(1.0, color="0.5", lw=0.9, ls="--")
ax.set_xlabel(r"Blend per-hop delay $\delta_{max}$ (s)")
ax.set_ylabel(r"$\hat D / D^*$ (honest)")
ax.set_title("Cost: honest recovery is unchanged")
ax.legend(fontsize=7, loc="lower left")
ax = axes[1]
x = np.arange(len(DELAYS))
for i, a in enumerate(ANCHORS):
vals = [eff[(eff.anchor == a) & (eff.blend_delay_max == d)
& (eff.adversary_frac == 0.3)].gap_max.max() for d in DELAYS]
ax.bar(x + (i - 0.5) * 0.36, vals, 0.36, color=style.OKABE_ITO[i + 1],
label=f"{a}-anchored")
ax.axhline(w, color=style.OKABE_ITO[0], lw=1.2, ls="--", label=rf"$w_u$ = {w} slots")
ax.set_yscale("log")
ax.set_xticks(x, [f"{d:.0f}" for d in DELAYS])
ax.set_xlabel(r"Blend per-hop delay $\delta_{max}$ (s)")
ax.set_ylabel("oldest chain state a counted\nreference reaches (slots, log)")
ax.set_title("Benefit: a 30 % adversary's reach, bounded")
ax.legend(fontsize=7, loc="upper left")
style.save(fig, FIGS / "fig38_uncle_parent_window",
provenance="scripts/uncle_parent_window.py")
plt.close(fig)
def main() -> None:
w = SimConfig(**BASE, blend_delay_max=4.0).effective_uncle_window
print(f"=== uncle- vs parent-anchored reference window (w_u = {w} slots) ===")
rec, eff = sweep()
report(rec, eff, w)
fig38(rec, eff, w)
print(f"\nwrote {RUNS}/uncle_parent_window{{,_effort}}.parquet + fig38")
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()