SAFE-Matter™ Runtime State Model: Deterministic State Governance for Present-State Admissibility, Execution Authority, and Recovery Legitimacy

SAFE-Matter™ Runtime State Model defines the constitutional execution states governing present-state admissibility, operational legitimacy, execution authority, deterministic escalation, and recovery governance within consequence-bearing systems. The paper establishes that operational authority cannot be permanently inherited from historic approval, certification, inspection, or prior conformity assessment. Instead, execution legitimacy must remain continuously admissible through constitutionally sufficient present-state evidence evaluated at the exact moment of reliance. The framework introduces a deterministic runtime state architecture governing the constitutional conditions under which systems may continue execution, enter degraded legitimacy, transition into inadmissibility, operate under constrained authority, enter UNKNOWN-state escalation, or re-establish legitimacy following evidential restoration. SAFE-Matter™ distinguishes technical functionality from constitutional admissibility. A system may therefore remain technically operational while no longer retaining admissible authority to continue execution. The Runtime State Model continuously governs legitimacy recalculation through operational identity validation, evidential freshness evaluation, signal authenticity verification, dependency admissibility assessment, and UNKNOWN-state constitutional governance. The framework therefore replaces assumption-based continuation with continuously governed runtime admissibility determination in which operational authority exists only while present-state legitimacy remains constitutionally provable.