{
  "id": "oai:papers.qnfo.org:relaxation-equation-mechanism",
  "slug": "relaxation-equation-mechanism",
  "title": "A Pre-Registered Falsification of Deterministic Measurement-Triggered Relaxation",
  "authors": [
    "Rowan Brad Quni-Gudzinas"
  ],
  "abstract": "The hydrodynamic re-grounding of quantum mechanics proposes that measurement outcomes arise from a deterministic relaxation of a probability fluid into eigenstate basins, rather than from a discontinuous collapse. A prior adjudication of this program found its central weakness to be the absence of any concrete mechanism: no equation of motion was specified for the claimed relaxation. This paper reports a pre-registered computational test of the strongest available form of that proposal. A two-level system was evolved unitarily to a measurement time, then subjected to three candidate relaxation dynamics toward the eigenbasis, and outcome statistics were collected over 10⁵ shots per state across a fixed test set. The simulation code, parameter values, and analysis rules were fixed and checksummed before any result was produced. Every configuration failed: the maximum deviation from Born probabilities was $0.5$, fifty times the pre-registered tolerance of 10^-2, because a deterministic map from a fixed initial state yields a degenerate outcome channel — measured probabilities take only the values $0$ or $1$. [...]",
  "abstract_markdown": "The hydrodynamic re-grounding of quantum mechanics proposes that measurement outcomes arise from a deterministic relaxation of a probability fluid into eigenstate basins, rather than from a discontinuous collapse. A prior adjudication of this program found its central weakness to be the absence of any concrete mechanism: no equation of motion was specified for the claimed relaxation. This paper reports a pre-registered computational test of the strongest available form of that proposal. A two-level system was evolved unitarily to a measurement time, then subjected to three candidate relaxation dynamics toward the eigenbasis, and outcome statistics were collected over $10^5$ shots per state across a fixed test set. The simulation code, parameter values, and analysis rules were fixed and checksummed before any result was produced. Every configuration failed: the maximum deviation from Born probabilities was $0.5$, fifty times the pre-registered tolerance of $10^{-2}$, because a deterministic map from a fixed initial state yields a degenerate outcome channel — measured probabilities take only the values $0$ or $1$. [...]",
  "date": "2026-08-20",
  "first_published": "2026-08-20",
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  "modified": "2026-08-20T00:00:00Z",
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  "language": "en",
  "keywords": [
    "quantum foundations",
    "measurement problem",
    "Born rule",
    "Madelung equations",
    "deterministic relaxation",
    "pre-registration",
    "falsification",
    "hydrodynamic quantum mechanics",
    "Kolmogorovian probability",
    "quantum equilibrium"
  ],
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        "name": "Rowan Brad Quni-Gudzinas",
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    "titles": [
      {
        "title": "A Pre-Registered Falsification of Deterministic Measurement-Triggered Relaxation"
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    "publicationYear": "2026",
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    "subjects": [
      {
        "subject": "quantum foundations"
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      {
        "subject": "measurement problem"
      },
      {
        "subject": "Born rule"
      },
      {
        "subject": "Madelung equations"
      },
      {
        "subject": "deterministic relaxation"
      },
      {
        "subject": "pre-registration"
      },
      {
        "subject": "falsification"
      },
      {
        "subject": "hydrodynamic quantum mechanics"
      },
      {
        "subject": "Kolmogorovian probability"
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      {
        "subject": "quantum equilibrium"
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        "description": "The hydrodynamic re-grounding of quantum mechanics proposes that measurement outcomes arise from a deterministic relaxation of a probability fluid into eigenstate basins, rather than from a discontinuous collapse. A prior adjudication of this program found its central weakness to be the absence of any concrete mechanism: no equation of motion was specified for the claimed relaxation. This paper reports a pre-registered computational test of the strongest available form of that proposal. A two-level system was evolved unitarily to a measurement time, then subjected to three candidate relaxation dynamics toward the eigenbasis, and outcome statistics were collected over 10⁵ shots per state across a fixed test set. The simulation code, parameter values, and analysis rules were fixed and checksummed before any result was produced. Every configuration failed: the maximum deviation from Born probabilities was $0.5$, fifty times the pre-registered tolerance of 10^-2, because a deterministic map from a fixed initial state yields a degenerate outcome channel — measured probabilities take only the values $0$ or $1$. [...]",
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