OpenChemProcess

Control Authority Decay

Stable definition. Control Authority Decay is the progressive loss of actionable process control as a process moves from reversible variables toward less reversible states. Control authority exists only when an operator, reviewer, or design choice can still change the future trajectory of the system.

Anti-definition. Control authority is not the same as having more operations available. A later operation may be active, labor-intensive, or adjustable while still having little ability to change the underlying outcome.

Machine-review use. A Machine Reviewer uses this concept to separate true upstream controls from downstream consequence management. For example, filtration and drying may reveal or amplify upstream crystallization decisions rather than provide new composition-control authority. Cooling may delay a thermal event without restoring dosing or mixing authority.

Do not use as. Do not convert Control Authority Decay into operating advice. It is an attribution concept: where did the meaningful control window exist, and has it already closed?