{
  "abstract": "Chemistry's phenomenological theories multiply with its observables: the same physical reality is repeatedly named in different measurement contexts, and the relations among theories have never had an auditable carrier. Here we present PhotoLean, a machine-checked genealogy of seventeen photochemical and photophysical theories formalized in Lean 4 over a shared kernel. Every pair of theories carries either a verified relation (equivalence, implication, composition with registered premises, definitional certificate) or a registered reason for its absence, covering all 136 pairs. Three adjudications resolve inherited conflations with if-and-only-if boundaries and witnesses: the symmetry factor $β$ equals one-half exactly when reactant and product force constants coincide; Kasha's rule and the Kasha-Vavilov rule agree only under closed quantification with a loss channel; and intensity-only Stern-Volmer data cannot distinguish static from dynamic quenching, whereas the lifetime channel discriminates exactly. As proposition generation shifts to machines, such machine-checked relational ledgers offer a replicable audit layer for theory itself.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.32251",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Junyi Gong"
    },
    {
      "name": "Zijie Qiu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ben Zhong Tang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3zpjve34v7szr.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.32251",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "3zpjve34v7szr",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.32251",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.chem-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1702|Logic, programming, and type systems"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214725536",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.32251",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-26",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3zpjve34v7szr.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:12Z",
      "native_id": "2609.32251",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.32251"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.chem-ph",
      "subfield": "physical"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The Same and Not the Same: A Machine-Checked Genealogy of Photochemical Theory",
  "title_text": "The Same and Not the Same: A Machine-Checked Genealogy of Photochemical Theory",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T00:20:36Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3zpjve34v7szr",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}