Proves a Finite Primitive Basis Theorem showing every computational imaging model decomposes into exactly 11 physically typed primitives.
March 17, 2026
Original Paper
Eleven Primitives and Three Gates: The Universal Structure of Computational Imaging
arXiv · 2603.13521
The Takeaway
By establishing a universal grammar for imaging systems (from cryo-EM to coded cameras), this work allows practitioners to diagnose reconstruction failures using a 'Three Gates' framework and design new modalities using a minimal compositional basis.
From the abstract
Computational imaging systems -- from coded-aperture cameras to cryo-electron microscopes -- span five carrier families yet share a hidden structural simplicity. We prove that every imaging forward model decomposes into a directed acyclic graph over exactly 11 physically typed primitives (Finite Primitive Basis Theorem) -- a sufficient and minimal basis that provides a compositional language for designing any imaging modality. We further prove that every reconstruction failure has exactly three