{
  "id": "oai:papers.qnfo.org:operational-circularity-of-qubit-ontology-excitations-defined-by-their-own-reado",
  "slug": "operational-circularity-of-qubit-ontology-excitations-defined-by-their-own-reado",
  "title": "Operational Circularity of Qubit Ontology: Excitations Defined by Their Own Readout",
  "authors": [
    "Rowan Brad Quni-Gudzinas"
  ],
  "abstract": "Quantum hardware engineers certify qubits through a closed calibration loop in which control pulses, readout discriminators, and tomographic validation mutually calibrate one another. Because the calibration model is built from data that depend on the very model being calibrated, the loop is operationally circular, and it is unclear whether it certifies the qubit's physical nature or merely fixes an internal bookkeeping choice. We formalize the loop as a composite operator T=Γ∘Φ acting on operational data D, where Φ maps data to a Hilbert-space identification and Γ generates predicted data from an identification. A contraction condition L<1 guarantees a unique fixed point and thus benign circularity; its violation permits multiple fixed points or continuous symmetry orbits, signalling ontological underdetermination. We derive the contraction criterion, exhibit a two-branch toy model with two exact fixed points, and compute the shot budget required to resolve ontology-discriminating observables under an assumed single-shot readout fidelity F=0.99991. The analysis shows that (i) convergence to a unique operational identification occurs in at most fourteen iterations for L=0.6, (ii) multiplicity can arise from branch selection alone, and (iii) resolving a discrepancy δ=10^-3 at 1\\% failure probability demands N≈2.65×10⁶ shots, while the minimal detectable asymmetry at 10⁴ shots is ε_min≈5.001×10^-3. These results separate harmless calibration circularity from genuine ontological ambiguity and give hardware designers concrete criteria for when out-of-loop probes are required.",
  "abstract_markdown": "Quantum hardware engineers certify qubits through a closed calibration loop in which control pulses, readout discriminators, and tomographic validation mutually calibrate one another. Because the calibration model is built from data that depend on the very model being calibrated, the loop is operationally circular, and it is unclear whether it certifies the qubit's physical nature or merely fixes an internal bookkeeping choice. We formalize the loop as a composite operator $T=\\Gamma\\circ\\Phi$ acting on operational data $\\mathcal{D}$, where $\\Phi$ maps data to a Hilbert-space identification and $\\Gamma$ generates predicted data from an identification. A contraction condition $L<1$ guarantees a unique fixed point and thus benign circularity; its violation permits multiple fixed points or continuous symmetry orbits, signalling ontological underdetermination. We derive the contraction criterion, exhibit a two-branch toy model with two exact fixed points, and compute the shot budget required to resolve ontology-discriminating observables under an assumed single-shot readout fidelity $F=0.99991$. The analysis shows that (i) convergence to a unique operational identification occurs in at most fourteen iterations for $L=0.6$, (ii) multiplicity can arise from branch selection alone, and (iii) resolving a discrepancy $\\delta=10^{-3}$ at $1\\%$ failure probability demands $N\\approx2.65\\times10^{6}$ shots, while the minimal detectable asymmetry at $10^{4}$ shots is $\\epsilon_{\\min}\\approx5.001\\times10^{-3}$. These results separate harmless calibration circularity from genuine ontological ambiguity and give hardware designers concrete criteria for when out-of-loop probes are required.",
  "date": "2026-10-11",
  "first_published": "2026-10-11",
  "last_revised": "2026-10-27T04:51:09Z",
  "modified": "2026-10-27T04:51:09Z",
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  "peer_review_status": "Not independently peer-reviewed",
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  "doi_url": null,
  "url": "https://papers.qnfo.org/papers/operational-circularity-of-qubit-ontology-excitations-defined-by-their-own-reado",
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  "version_url": "https://papers.qnfo.org/papers/operational-circularity-of-qubit-ontology-excitations-defined-by-their-own-reado/v/2.2.0",
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    "creators": [
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        "name": "Rowan Brad Quni-Gudzinas",
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    "titles": [
      {
        "title": "Operational Circularity of Qubit Ontology: Excitations Defined by Their Own Readout"
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    "publisher": "QNFO",
    "publicationYear": "2026",
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        "description": "Quantum hardware engineers certify qubits through a closed calibration loop in which control pulses, readout discriminators, and tomographic validation mutually calibrate one another. Because the calibration model is built from data that depend on the very model being calibrated, the loop is operationally circular, and it is unclear whether it certifies the qubit's physical nature or merely fixes an internal bookkeeping choice. We formalize the loop as a composite operator T=Γ∘Φ acting on operational data D, where Φ maps data to a Hilbert-space identification and Γ generates predicted data from an identification. A contraction condition L<1 guarantees a unique fixed point and thus benign circularity; its violation permits multiple fixed points or continuous symmetry orbits, signalling ontological underdetermination. We derive the contraction criterion, exhibit a two-branch toy model with two exact fixed points, and compute the shot budget required to resolve ontology-discriminating observables under an assumed single-shot readout fidelity F=0.99991. The analysis shows that (i) convergence to a unique operational identification occurs in at most fourteen iterations for L=0.6, (ii) multiplicity can arise from branch selection alone, and (iii) resolving a discrepancy δ=10^-3 at 1\\% failure probability demands N≈2.65×10⁶ shots, while the minimal detectable asymmetry at 10⁴ shots is ε_min≈5.001×10^-3. These results separate harmless calibration circularity from genuine ontological ambiguity and give hardware designers concrete criteria for when out-of-loop probes are required.",
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