Thirteen unexplained arithmetic contradictions in the nuclear structure archive, reported privately, pending maintainer review
The result: Of 299,105 placed gamma records in the ENSDF nuclear structure archive, 61 fail their own level-scheme arithmetic beyond ten times the stated uncertainties. The archive explains 48 of them through its own footnotes and source structure, and 13 have no documented explanation and no consistent placement in any sibling dataset, with a blind second classification agreeing on all 13. They were reported privately to the maintainers first and their identities are withheld here pending that review.
What it means: Thirteen records in the world reference archive of nuclear structure contradict their own arithmetic with no explanation anywhere in the archive, and the people who maintain it now have the list.
What it is NOT: Not thirteen confirmed errors, because the maintainers may recognize some as known issues or evaluation practice, and their answer is the real test.
Next test that could settle it: The maintainers reply adjudicates each record as known, explained, or new; identities and per-record receipts publish after their review or a courtesy window.
Open question: Do the unexplained ENSDF arithmetic contradictions survive maintainer adjudication as real bookkeeping errors?
Receipts (exact limits and evidence records)
Claim ceiling (the strongest sentence this evidence supports): Archive bookkeeping structure of the flagged records only; dual-arm exploratory candidates whose decisive adjudication is the maintainers reply; no record is called a confirmed error.
Novelty: receipted record-level contradictions with negative explanation searches, awaiting maintainer adjudication
Question: Q-LAB-ENSDF-CANDIDATES-2026-08-23
Evidence grade: G1_EXPLORATORY
Evidence records: ART-083, ART-081
Related: The electromagnetic keyword fails its own consistency test