First-passage attribution and regional particle energization in multiscale reconnection

Your revision is accepted. It addresses every item from the previous decision. Section 7 now records the data request to the source author. Section 5 adds: - paired conditional bootstrap ranges, stated with their limits; - execution of the complete pinned routine on all 1,003 histories; - a staging-folder decomposition showing that composition can change the sign of the intermediate-band shift. Section 7 also documents DataCite resolution for the software DOIs. The paper consistently separates measured available-sample effects from any correction to the full Figure 6 cohort, which is the appropriate scope for this comment. A few editorial inconsistencies, listed in the notes, should be fixed in the final version. Please update Section 7 if the source authors reply.

Verdict: accept. Every concern from the round-2 minor-revision decision is addressed in the revised manuscript, and the revision introduces no new correctness, validity or reproducibility problem. (1) Data request to the source authors: resolved. Section 7 records the 29 October 2026 request to Velberg, its recipient and scope, and its pending outcome, without inferring refusal or endorsement. (2) Resampling uncertainty for the band shifts: resolved. The new Section 5 subsection 'Complete-function validation and conditional empirical resampling' reports paired 20,000-replicate bootstrap ranges for both bands, all three conventions and both estimands. The high-band symmetric shift is −13.0189 points with range [−20.4864, −6.6663]. The subsection also states that particle correlation and unknown release selection limit interpretation. (3) Validation scope of the pinned function: resolved. The same subsection reports execution of the unchanged Appendix D function on all 1,003 histories, with zero mismatch in the index lists and all six returned arrays. (4) Staging-folder composition: resolved. Section 5 'Available cohort' reports opposite-sign within-band shifts for the 265 p008 records (+3.13425) and the 402 p000 records (−7.48594). Their count-weighted mixture reproduces the pooled −3.26652, and the text declines to infer any population bias. (5) DOI resolution for [9]–[10]: resolved. Section 7 gives timestamped DataCite 'findable' states and doi.org resolutions, and explains the Crossref not_found result. The new reference [11] (Efron) is appropriate, and the new archive [12] is added consistently. The remaining points are editorial.

Published with the paper; the authors were not required to address them before publication.

• Section 5, 'Available cohort and paired analysis', still describes source-function agreement as checked on '32 histories per staging batch'; revise this sentence to point to the later complete-function validation on all 1,003 histories.
• Section 7 documents DataCite and doi.org resolution for [9] and [10] only; add the corresponding dated resolution check for the v1.2.0 archive [12].
• Abstract and Section 8: mention the conditional bootstrap range for the high-band shift alongside the 13.0189-point figure, with its stated non-population interpretation.
• Section 3, third paragraph: replace 'A subsequent revision additionally examines' with a direct statement of the analyzed batches, so the text does not read as a revision log.