POP-Core: Formal Semantics and Interoperability of Portable Persona Objects

This work introduces POP-Core (Persona Object Protocol Core), a formal semantic layer for representing persona as a portable protocol object in AI systems. Current AI systems often implement persona as prompt fragments or application-specific configuration. Such representations lack stable identity, lifecycle semantics, and interoperability across systems. POP-Core addresses this limitation by modeling persona as a structured protocol object with explicit lifecycle operations and runtime projection semantics. The paper defines: • A minimal persona object model• Runtime semantic state for persona-bearing systems• Lifecycle operations (attach, detach, replace, revoke, project)• Field-preservation semantics for runtime projection• Conformance levels for protocol implementations A pilot interoperability evaluation demonstrates that persona objects can be schema-validated, projected across heterogeneous runtime environments, and preserved with higher structural fidelity than prompt-only persona representations. POP-Core is positioned as an early protocol semantics layer rather than a complete interoperability standard. It provides a formal foundation for treating persona as a portable object layer in AI systems.