public final Enum ReferenceMode

Same as weak reference except Objects that can not be changed tracked (Deferred Change Detection) will not be prevented from being garbage collected. This may result in a loss of changes if a changed object is removed before being flushed to the database. When a change is made to a change tracked object that object is moved to a hard reference and will not be available for GC until flushed. New and removed objects are also held by hard references until flush..

References to Objects will be through hard references. These objects will not be available for garbage collection until the referencing artifact (usually a Persistence Context or UnitOfWork) released or closed.

References to Objects that support active attribute change tracking (enabled through weaving or by the developer)will be held by weak references. This means any of afore mentioned objects no longer referenced directly or indirectly will be available for garbage collection. If the object is gc'd before the EM/UnitOfWork flushes to the database then this object and any others like it will not be checked for changes. When a change is made to a change tracked object that object is moved to a hard reference and will not be available for GC until flushed. New and removed objects are also held by hard references. Non change tracked objects will always be held by "hard" references and are not available for GC. This is the default mode for EclipsLink. See: java.lang.ref.WeakReference org.eclipse.persistence.descriptors.changetracking.AttributeChangeTrackingPolicy