A density matrix you can farm: exact open-system simulation as a game engine, and an honesty-graded ledger

Working title: Farming a density matrix: exact GKSL dynamics as a game engine, a public exact / faithful / suggestive ledger with a test behind every grade, and a pre-registered learning study

Author: [withheld in the repository copy]. Contact: [withheld].

Status: DRAFT — not submitted. Luke submits by hand, and only if he chooses to. Revision: 2026-11-02 second sweep (related work, venues).

Venues

Venue	Why	Fee / barrier	Review	Length	Deadline	URL
Physical Review Physics Education Research	Natural home once the Registered Report has a Stage 2.	Not APC-free. APC $2,295 (2026); hardship reduction up to 20%	Single-anonymized	Research Articles: no limit	Rolling; the quantum-education collection closed 2024-06-30	https://journals.aps.org/prper/about
American Journal of Physics, Computational Physics section	Design-and-fidelity paper with outcomes DARK (Quantum Composer precedent, Ahmed 2021).	No fee under the exclusive licence; OA $3,800. "Manuscripts whose purpose is to share new physics research results are not acceptable."	Double-anonymous	Normally ≤ 6 pages	Rolling	https://www.aapt.org/Publications/AJP/About/editorial_policy.cfm
European Journal of Physics	Longer version of the AJP paper.	Hybrid; green OA free; APC £2655 / €3050 / $3665 if OA	Single-anonymous	≤ 4000 words	Rolling	https://publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org/journals/european-journal-of-physics/about-european-journal-physics/
DISER	Free. The "Quantum Thinking in STEM Education" collection's proposal gate (2026-09-01 / 2026-10-01, no TZ) has passed; "01 September 2027" is the invited-manuscript close; the only route is the guest editor. Regular submissions stay open.	APC covered by Beijing Normal University	Double-anonymous	Not stated	Rolling (regular)	https://link.springer.com/collections/dfehgffafd
Royal Society Open Science (Stage 1 Registered Report), or PCI Registered Reports (free; site blocked 2026-11-01, UNVERIFIED)	Registered Reports are a named format; §7 is written for it.	RSOS APC £1400 / $1960 / €1680; discretionary waiver "for those who lack funds"	Single-anonymised; reports published	Not stated	Rolling	https://royalsociety.org/journals/open-access/
EPJ Quantum Technology, topical collection "Quantum Education"	Out while outcomes are DARK. The collection page (read 2026-11-02; editors Müller, Sherson, Goorney, Bitzenbauer; 45 articles 2024-01-24 → 2026-10-27) requires "at least initial results of an empirical evaluation". Re-enters only with a pilot.	Springer OA; APC not read	Not read	Not read	2026-12-31	https://link.springer.com/collections/cjbbdcbabf
arXiv	Primary physics.ed-ph (own endorsement domain); cross-list quant-ph (separate domain). Two endorsements. Since 2026-01-21 automatic endorsement needs an academic email and prior arXiv authorship in the domain (policy post read 2026-11-02), so a first-time unaffiliated author takes the personal-endorsement path; staff cannot waive it.	"Independent" accepted as organization	—	—	Daily 14:00 US Eastern	https://info.arxiv.org/help/endorsement.html

Abstract (draft)

Most games that teach quantum physics simulate pure states, wavefunctions on a line, or circuits. None of the tools in the 2022 Optical Engineering review simulate a density matrix, and the 2026 AJP Resource Letter on quantum information education reports that open systems, decoherence and density matrices are "not discussed as teaching topics". We describe a public farming game in which every field is a density matrix (the full quantum state, mixed states included) evolved exactly under its authored Hamiltonian, with GKSL (Lindblad) dissipators where the world is declared open. Planting is a Rabi pulse, harvesting is a Born-rule sample, and ripeness is the Aharonov–Anandan geometric phase of the actual Bloch path. The game teaches by refusal: a fog cannot be planted, because a unitary cannot raise purity; a dephasing contract has no reverse trade; a closed world has no attractors; an open Bloch walk returns NaN, not zero. We then make the claim that matters: the physics a game says it teaches should ship as a graded ledger. Every concept carries one of three grades (exact, faithful, suggestive), the test behind the grade, and standalone assays that re-verify the claim with no engine in the loop. We offer the ledger as a reusable rubric mapped to Feinstein and Cannon's fidelity / verification / validation constructs, and pre-register a remote crossover study with named instruments. Learning outcomes are DARK: unmeasured, and stated as such.

Contributions

1. An exact open-system engine as a game substrate. Each biome is a density matrix evolved by U = exp(−iH·dt) via eigendecomposition in native C++, purity conserved to machine precision, GKSL channels only where the world is open. We give the verification path and the one check owed: a QuTiP cross-check on the shipped biomes.
2. Teaching by refusal. Four refusals the engine enforces rather than narrates: the fog-cap theorem p_north ≤ (1 + |r|)/2 (a fog cannot be planted); three canonical channels sold as merchant contracts with no reverse trade; "identity, not destiny" (closed systems have no attractors); and closure honesty (open lifts and open walks refuse with NaN). Each is graded and tested.
3. The honesty ledger as a reusable instrument. A rubric (exact / faithful / suggestive), a verification protocol (a test per grade; engine-free assays that exit nonzero on failure; sidecar certificates; an atlas that re-derives the thermodynamic map), and the rule that grades err conservative. Mapped onto Feinstein–Cannon (2002) and Ubben–Heusler (2021).
4. Design laws from a failed first attempt. Role separation (Hamiltonian vs Lindblad), dephasing first, no new controls in act two, "openness is a place". Reported as design history, not as a measured result.
5. Assessment is performance on the live state. Quests are soft-gated on observables of the live ρ (QuestMath.soft_gate). We formalize this as evidence-centered design where the competency model is an observable algebra, and pre-register a learning study with named instruments. Every outcome is DARK today.

Outline (EJP/AJP version ≈ 4000 words; the PRPER version adds §7 in full)

1. Why a density matrix (400 words). State the gap with its two hubs: Seskir et al. (2022) find "no common design methodology or an universal evaluation tool for quantum games"; Meyer, Goorney, Kushimo and Seskir (2026) find open systems "not discussed as teaching topics"; and the third, Piispanen et al. (2025), read in full on 2026-11-02, catalogues more than 350 games with no density matrix, mixed state, open system or Lindblad entry, so the gap is stated narrowly as "no game evolves a density matrix under open-system dynamics". Say plainly what a density matrix adds: the difference between "I do not know" and "it is in superposition", which Passante et al. (2015) show students conflate. Name the two claims and the one thing not claimed (learning).
2. The engine (600 words). Exact unitary evolution by eigendecomposition in native C++ on Eigen; no GDScript fallback (a missing extension freezes the biome). Fourteen gates verified against exact density-matrix elements. Born rule with deterministic seeding so a save replays the same universe; weak measurement with coherence decay √(1 − η). Two in-repo documents disagree on biome counts (README 164 / 66 with Lindblad channels; FOR_PHYSICISTS 64 of 162); the paper re-derives them with tools/atlas_plates.py before quoting any count.
3. Mechanics as physics (600 words). Planting = Rabi pulse under the fog-cap theorem. Harvest = projective collapse paying surprisal −kT·log p with kT from live entropy (exchange rate a game constant; faithful). Ripeness = signed solid angle on a closed Bloch walk, ripe at 2π: the Aharonov–Anandan phase of the actual path (exact). T₂ dephasing, T₁ decay, Zeno pinning, bistability, EIT dark states, SSH edge protection at 5 sites (a pattern, not the limit). Player identity as a 12-qubit faction density matrix decaying toward maximally mixed with τ = 300 s unless renewed by learning.
4. Teaching by refusal (400 words). The four refusals of Contribution 2, each with its assay. Why a refusal teaches better than a label: the player meets the theorem as a wall, then reads the wall's name. Non-commutativity by gate order; absence of chaos taught as a theorem.
5. The honesty ledger (700 words). The grades defined operationally: exact = the engine computes the quantity and a test pins it to the closed form; faithful = valid under a stated approximation or game constant; suggestive = the mechanic evokes the concept and no quantitative test is claimed. Map to Feinstein–Cannon: exact = verified and valid; faithful = valid under stated approximation; suggestive = gestalt only (Ubben–Heusler). The protocol: scripts/run_tests.sh, tests/ with 221 entries, engine-free Python assays, sidecar certificates, the atlas. The nonlocality rows as the worked example: knot-register mutual winding is integer-valued and taught as not an isotopy invariant; Ising-anyon braiding is Clifford-only and says so.
6. Design laws (300 words). The first open-system attempt died because dissipative channels duplicated the Hamiltonian. The rebuild under four laws. Flagged as narrative.
7. Assessment and the pre-registered study (700 words). Quests soft-gated on ⟨O⟩ of the live ρ as an ECD evidence model (Mislevy et al. 2003; Shute et al. 2013). Design: remote, counterbalanced crossover (game-first vs companion-text-first), after Hamed and Rebello (2026). Instruments: Bitzenbauer et al. (2024) two-state measurement questionnaire as primary; Passante et al. (2015) items for mixed vs superposition; QISCIT (Durkin et al. 2025; "not yet tested on students") and QMCS (McKagan et al. 2010) as secondary. In-game evidence: gate passage and assay re-runs on the player's saves. Moderators: play depth (Shute 2013 found gains concentrated in high-engagement players), sessions, companion text (Wouters et al. 2013). Sample size fixed by a Stage 1 power analysis against meta-analytic baselines (Clark et al. 2016; Wouters et al. 2013). Outcomes DARK until Stage 2.
8. Threats, what this is not, conclusion (300 words).

Related work and the negative space

The games. Seskir et al. (2022), Optical Engineering 61(8), 081809, the 24-author review; its Table 1 covers Alice Challenge, Hello Quantum, Particle in a Box, Psi and Delta, Quantum Game with Photons, Quantum Odyssey, Quantum Moves 2 and Virtual Lab. Meyer, Goorney, Kushimo and Seskir (2026), Am. J. Phys. 94, 593, Resource Letter QIE-1. Piispanen et al. (2025), EPJ Quantum Technology 12, 7, "Defining quantum games". Nita et al. (2021), Research in Science & Technological Education 41(2), Quantum Odyssey and "quantum literacy". Ahmed et al. (2021), Am. J. Phys. 89, 307, Quantum Composer on the QEngine library. Migdał et al. (2022), Optical Engineering 61(8), 081808, Virtual Lab by Quantum Flytrap. Wootton (2017), GSGS'17 / arXiv:1712.09649, Decodoku.

The cautionary tale. Sørensen et al. (2016), Nature 532, 210, retracted 22 July 2020 at the authors' request after an outside researcher found a code error. Sels (2018), Phys. Rev. A 97, 040302(R), and Grønlund (2019), arXiv:1904.01008, showed simple optimizers beat all players. The original group's reply, Mølmer and Sherson (2019), arXiv:1910.14364, was withdrawn in its v2 of 16 December 2019 citing "an error of implementation" in old numerical code, seven months before the Nature retraction (verified on arXiv 2026-11-02). Jensen et al. (2021), Phys. Rev. Research 3, 013057, is the replacement paper with a narrower claim. The lesson is procedural: publish the test behind each claim, and say what is unmeasured.

Education research. Krijtenburg-Lewerissa et al. (2017), PRPER 13, 010109, student difficulties. Passante, Emigh and Shaffer (2015), PRST-PER 11, 020135, the one PER paper squarely on mixed states. McKagan et al. (2008), Am. J. Phys. 76, 406, PhET-QM design decisions. Goorney et al. (2024), Eur. J. Phys. 45, 065702, curriculum transformation. Greinert et al. (2023), PRPER 19, 010137, the competence framework. Gravemeijer (1999), Mathematical Thinking and Learning 1(2), progressive formalization, the warrant for graded fidelity.

Instruments. Sadaghiani and Pollock (2015), PRST-PER 11, 010110, QMCA. McKagan, Perkins and Wieman (2010), PRST-PER 6, 020121, QMCS. Bitzenbauer et al. (2024), PRPER 20, 020136, measurement in two-state contexts. Durkin et al. (2025), arXiv:2506.17122, QISCIT.

Assessment methodology. Shute, Ventura and Kim (2013), J. Educational Research 106(6), stealth assessment, N = 167. Mislevy, Steinberg and Almond (2003), Measurement 1(1), evidence-centered design. Clark, Tanner-Smith and Killingsworth (2016), Review of Educational Research 86(1), ḡ = 0.33 for media comparisons. Wouters et al. (2013), J. Educational Psychology 105(2), d = 0.29 with moderators. Hamed and Rebello (2026), PERC 2026 / arXiv:2606.03615, game vs simulation crossover, N = 83. Feinstein and Cannon (2002), Simulation & Gaming 33(4), fidelity / verification / validation. Ubben and Heusler (2021), Research in Science Education 51, gestalt vs functional fidelity.

Open-system reference. Johansson, Nation and Nori (2013), Computer Physics Communications 184, QuTiP 2, the reference any "exact GKSL" claim is checked against.

Negative space. Nearest neighbours and what they do not do. Quantum Composer runs an exact one-dimensional Schrödinger engine: pure states only, no economy. Virtual Lab is exact pure-state photon optics with POVMs, no dissipation. Quantum Moves 2 scores overlap fidelity against a target wavefunction. Decodoku has topology but no dynamics. Psi and Delta is the closest "measurement as mechanic", with counters as probability, but no mixed states. No tool in any of the three hubs evolves a density matrix under open-system dynamics; "density matrix", "mixed state", "decoherence" and "Lindblad" occur zero times in the 2022 review, and "density matrix", "mixed state", "open quantum system" and "Lindblad" occur zero times in Piispanen et al. (2025), read in full on 2026-11-02 (second sweep, below). The nearest neighbour is The Qubit Factory (Evenbly 2024), which computes reduced density matrices only for an entropy display on a real-amplitude pure-state simulator and treats "decohere" as a forced projective measurement. No published rubric grades the physical fidelity of a game's claims; the hub proposes only a PhysPort-style rating of whether a game has been evaluated. No evidence-centered-design study has a competency model that is the observable algebra of a simulated quantum state. The one check that stood here, a full read of Piispanen et al. (2025)'s surveyed list, was done on 2026-11-02; what now blocks "first" is two searches the session budget refused (named in the second sweep), so "none found" is the strongest wording.

Second sweep (2026-11-02). Piispanen et al. (2025) was read in full (arXiv:2206.00089v5, the text of EPJ Quantum Technology 12, 7; verified at Crossref and arXiv). It catalogues more than 350 games (over 250 examined between 2019 and 2022, collected from itch.io, mobygames, Steam, igdb and academic sources). Across the whole text, "density matrix", "mixed state", "open quantum system", "Lindblad", "master equation", "geometric phase", "Berry phase", "Zeno", "topology", "SSH", "lattice gauge", "Wilson loop", "farming" and "QuTiP" occur zero times; "decoherence" occurs once, for Quantum Battleship (Wootton 2017–18), where it is noise on real hardware and not a simulated channel; the eight entries tagged "simulation" (Quantum Moves 2, Hamsterwave, Quantum TiqTaqToe, Quantum Game / Virtual Lab, Quantum Sheep, Quantum Cabaret, Quantum Fruit, meQuanics) are all wavefunction- or circuit-level. The gap is restated narrowly: no game evolves a density matrix under open-system dynamics. Nearest neighbour: The Qubit Factory (Evenbly 2024, arXiv:2406.11995, physics.ed-ph; Steam, free, 29 July 2025) — a real-amplitude state-vector simulator ("only real-valued wavefunctions can be created"), at most six entangled qubits, beyond which the least-entangled qubits "spontaneously 'decohere' (i.e. realized as a projective measurement)"; reduced density matrices are computed only for a single-qubit entanglement-entropy display; the paper sets "noise and decoherence" aside as engineering challenges and reports no learner data (beta testing acknowledged only). QubitQuest (Hill and Morales-Trujillo 2026, arXiv:2604.24015; LEARNER workshop at EASE 2026) introduces decoherence as a penalty meter with no simulated state behind it; N = 11, a ten-item pre/post quiz, descriptive statistics only, no control. Entangle me! (López-Incera and Dür 2019, Am. J. Phys. 87, 95, DOI 10.1119/1.5086275) is a classroom role-play that covers decoherence without a digital state. Fernandez et al. (2025, arXiv:2512.18886), a seven-category K-12 review (2,077 papers screened, 167 reviewed, 11 expert interviews), adds "Game-Based Quantum Learning" as a category and names Qubit: The Game (Escanez-Exposito et al. 2023; card game; n = 96 self-report) as teaching "decoherence" — secondary, not fetched. Global Quantum Game Jam 2025 (5–8 September, theme "Echo", 17 entries) produced Recoherence Realm, Detective Loschmidt (fidelity lost per rewind as a budget) and Moth Effect (levels generated from a transverse-field Ising evolution with a coupling-sign flip as the echo), and Quantum Game Jam 2017 produced Zenoarcher (fewer observations scored, an analogy with no state); none states a density-matrix or Lindblad model. Lindblad interactives that are not games: the QFlux open-systems tutorial (Batista Group, Yale, 2025; spin-1/2 with a σx collapse operator and an amplitude-damping channel; code notebook, no interactive surface) and SpinDrops (Glaser Group, TUM; an interactive spin simulator with student challenges — whether it shows relaxation or mixed states is UNVERIFIED after search 2026-11-02). Still no published fidelity rubric for physics claims in games or simulations after two further extended searches; the only adjacent items (an aviation simulation-fidelity rating scale; WMEval 2026, a 0–3 per-item rubric for generated interactive worlds) surfaced as search snippets and are UNVERIFIED; in the quantum-games corpus accuracy is asserted by developers ("accurately", "actual laws") with no per-concept test. The cautionary tale gains a step: Mølmer and Sherson's reply, arXiv:1910.14364, was withdrawn in v2 on 16 December 2019 citing an implementation error, before the Nature retraction of July 2020. Venue consequence: the EPJ Quantum Technology "Quantum Education" topical collection (deadline 2026-12-31; page read 2026-11-02) requires "at least initial results of an empirical evaluation", so it is out while outcomes are DARK; AJP and EJP remain the fit for a design paper. Two search families were refused by the session's search budget and are NOT RUN: a 2024–2026 quantum-game taxonomy or evaluation-framework follow-up to Seskir or Piispanen, and any SSH / topological / lattice-gauge game; "first" is not to be written while they stand unrun. On the economy row of §3, the companion sweep found Board&Dice's Entropy (2026) spends entropy as a resource without computing it, so the companion draft's negative claim narrows to "no game computes the entropy or information it charges"; and "surprisal" is credited to Tribus (1961) for the word only (Samson 1951 for the measure), so "coined" carries that caveat wherever this paper uses the term.

Evidence (from the dossier; every row carries its tier)

Claim	Pointer	Tier
Each biome is a density matrix evolved exactly, U = exp(−iH·dt), eigendecomposition, native C++ on Eigen; purity conserved to machine precision; no GDScript fallback	SpaceWheat Core/QuantumSubstrate/, native/src/, QuantumComputer.evolve()	exact (owner's grade)
14 gates with exact unitaries verified against exact density-matrix elements; Bell, GHZ, cluster states by hand	tests/test_gate_exact_states.gd	exact
Born rule + projective collapse, deterministically seeded; weak measurement with coherence decay √(1 − η); η = 0 and 1 tested	Core/Actions/, tests/test_drain_qubit.gd	exact
Harvest pays −kT·log p; kT from live entropy; exchange rate is a game constant	EnergyPricing	faithful
Player identity: 12-qubit faction ρ decaying toward maximally mixed, τ = 300 s, unless renewed by learning	FactionDensityMatrix → QuantumMythosEngine	faithful
Ripeness = signed solid angle on a closed Bloch walk (L'Huilier per slice), ripe at 2π; the Aharonov–Anandan phase of the path	BerryPhaseRegister.gd	exact
Spectrum conservation; dominant eigenstate labelled identity not destiny; non-commutativity via gate order; absence of chaos as a theorem	Chapter 2 and 4 arcs	exact
SSH chain edge protection at 5 sites (pattern, not the limit)	icons.json, tools/ssh_assay.py	faithful
GKSL dissipators: README says 164 biomes / 66 with Lindblad channels; FOR_PHYSICISTS says 64 of 162 — re-derive with tools/atlas_plates.py before quoting	LindbladBuilder, biomes.json	exact within the model; count unresolved
T₂ dephasing, T₁ decay, Zeno pinning, bistability (two steady states above threshold, verified headlessly), EIT dark states, fog-cap theorem p_north ≤ (1 +	r	)/2, three canonical channels with no reverse trade
Nonlocality: knot-register mutual winding integer-valued, not an isotopy invariant; holonomy γ = Ω/2; Gauss linking refuses open lifts (NaN); Z₂/U(1) gauge field with Wilson loops; Ising-anyon braiding Clifford-only	KnotRegister.gd, GaugeField.gd, BridgeRegister.gd, docs/design/GAUGE_CAMPAIGN.md	exact / faithful / suggestive per ledger
The ledger: three grades, conservative, nothing suggestive presented as exact; "what the game refuses to fake"; assessment is performance (QuestMath.soft_gate)	docs/FOR_PHYSICISTS.md	the artifact
Verification: headless smoke suite; tests/ 221 entries; engine-free assays exit nonzero on failure; postcards carry sidecar certificates; atlas re-derives the thermodynamic map	repo	PINNED (repo CI)
Design history: first open-system attempt died (dissipators duplicated H); rebuilt under four laws	docs/FARMING_A_DENSITY_MATRIX.md	narrative (owner's account)
Learning outcomes, playtest counts, engagement	—	DARK

DARK (do not type a number)

• Learning outcomes of any kind, including any effect size against a companion text; playtest counts; engagement; retention.
• Cross-check of the engine against QuTiP on the shipped biomes: owed, not done.
• Biome and channel counts until tools/atlas_plates.py is re-run.
• Whether a PER venue accepts a remote, unsupervised sample.

Threats to validity

• Grades are self-assigned. The owner wrote the game and its ledger. CI tests and engine-free assays reduce this; an independent re-run is the remedy.
• Count drift. Two in-repo documents disagree on biome counts; we quote none until re-derived.
• No learning claim is made, so none can be falsified here. The pre-registered design is the falsifiable part; until Stage 2 this is a methods paper.
• Single artifact. One game, graded by its author. Applying the rubric to the eight games in Seskir's Table 1 would test transfer; future work.
• "First" rests on three hubs and two unrun searches. Piispanen et al. (2025) was read in full on 2026-11-02 and the sentence narrows to "no game evolves a density matrix under open-system dynamics"; the 2024–2026 quantum-game taxonomy / evaluation-framework search and the SSH / topological / lattice-gauge game search were NOT RUN (session search budget), so "none found" is the strongest wording that survives review.
• Public repository, double-anonymous venues. The game is public and the author's site names him; allowed, but the manuscript must not link to named repositories.

What this paper is not

• Not a learning-outcomes paper. Outcomes are DARK.
• Not the FDG 2027 demo (#99); that draft stands on its own.
• Not a claim of quantum advantage or quantum computation; the engine is a classical simulation of a small quantum system.
• Not a thermodynamics paper; the surprisal economy and Landauer bookkeeping belong to the companion scaffold (maxwell-demon-with-a-farm).
• Not a verdict on any other game; the ledger grades this one.

Luke's steps, if he wants to submit

1. Run tools/atlas_plates.py; make README and FOR_PHYSICISTS agree on biome and channel counts; record the derived numbers.
2. Have a seat write the QuTiP cross-check on the shipped biomes as a standalone assay; without it "exact" rests on the engine's own tests.
3. Done 2026-11-02: Piispanen et al. (2025) read in full; the negative-space paragraph is adjusted. Remaining: run the two refused searches (2024–2026 quantum-game taxonomy / evaluation frameworks; SSH / topological / lattice-gauge games) before any "first".
4. Register an ORCID (free). Register at arXiv as "Independent". Since 2026-01-21 automatic endorsement needs an academic email and prior arXiv authorship in the domain, so the personal-endorsement path below is the one that applies, and arXiv staff cannot waive it. Start a submission in physics.ed-ph to trigger the endorsement email; send the six-character code and a PDF to an endorser found via "Which authors of this paper are endorsers?" on arXiv:2202.07756 (Seskir et al.) or arXiv:2606.06445 (Meyer et al.). Repeat once for quant-ph if cross-listing. Pick the arXiv licence if the journal is undecided.
5. Pick the journal. AJP: propose to the Computational Physics editors, then submit an anonymized manuscript (no name, institution, email, acknowledgements), ≤ 6 pages. EJP: ≤ 4000 words, green OA. PRPER only after Stage 2, with the $2,295 APC (≤ 20% hardship cut) accepted.
6. For the study: write the Stage 1 Registered Report (design, instruments, power analysis, analysis plan); submit to Royal Society Open Science with a waiver request, or to PCI Registered Reports after checking its site.
7. If the DISER collection is wanted, email the guest editor a five-page proposal and ask whether late proposals are considered; otherwise submit as a regular DISER article.
8. Log the submission in the authority record when there is a receipt.