{
  "id": "oai:papers.qnfo.org:the-calibration-loop-as-fixed-point-ontological-underdetermination-of-the-qubit-",
  "slug": "the-calibration-loop-as-fixed-point-ontological-underdetermination-of-the-qubit-",
  "title": "The Calibration Loop as Fixed Point: Ontological Underdetermination of the Qubit by Its Own Metrology",
  "authors": [
    "Rowan Brad Quni-Gudzinas"
  ],
  "abstract": "Engineered qubits are certified through a closed calibration chain in which drive pulses, readout discriminators, and tomographic validation mutually calibrate one another. This self‑referential loop raises the question of whether the physical referent of the qubit label (collective circuit mode, electronic transition, or spin) is determined by the loop itself or remains underdetermined. We formalize the calibration hierarchy as an iterated map, derive its contraction condition, and compute the number of iterations required to reach the readout noise floor. Using a two‑level abstraction and a three‑level anharmonic ladder with leakage amplitude |c|, we prove that, under any measurement chain confined to the computational subspace, the two ontologies produce identical outcome distributions (total‑variation distance $0$). By assuming a typical trapped‑ion readout fidelity of 99.991\\% and a leakage probability of |c|²=0.01, we obtain a per‑shot error of 9×10^-5, a minimum of $11$ calibration iterations, and a shot budget of N≥2500 (one‑sigma) required to resolve the ontologies once a leakage‑resolving observable is available. The circularity is broken only by measurements that extend beyond the calibrated subspace or by cross‑platform consistency constraints. We enumerate the conditions under which each claim would fail.",
  "abstract_markdown": "Engineered qubits are certified through a closed calibration chain in which drive pulses, readout discriminators, and tomographic validation mutually calibrate one another. This self‑referential loop raises the question of whether the physical referent of the qubit label (collective circuit mode, electronic transition, or spin) is determined by the loop itself or remains underdetermined. We formalize the calibration hierarchy as an iterated map, derive its contraction condition, and compute the number of iterations required to reach the readout noise floor. Using a two‑level abstraction and a three‑level anharmonic ladder with leakage amplitude $|c|$, we prove that, under any measurement chain confined to the computational subspace, the two ontologies produce identical outcome distributions (total‑variation distance $0$). By assuming a typical trapped‑ion readout fidelity of $99.991\\%$ and a leakage probability of $|c|^{2}=0.01$, we obtain a per‑shot error of $9\\times10^{-5}$, a minimum of $11$ calibration iterations, and a shot budget of $N\\ge2500$ (one‑sigma) required to resolve the ontologies once a leakage‑resolving observable is available. The circularity is broken only by measurements that extend beyond the calibrated subspace or by cross‑platform consistency constraints. We enumerate the conditions under which each claim would fail.",
  "date": "2026-10-11",
  "first_published": "2026-10-11",
  "last_revised": "2026-10-19T22:01:12Z",
  "modified": "2026-10-19T22:01:12Z",
  "version": "1.1.0",
  "version_count": 2,
  "language": "en",
  "keywords": [],
  "quality_tags": [
    "High-quality scholarly research",
    "open-access scholarly work",
    "versioned research publication"
  ],
  "quality_label": "High-quality scholarly research",
  "quality_basis": "QNFO publisher classification for open-access, versioned research with a public revision history and reader correction channel; this is not a claim of independent peer review.",
  "quality_evidence_url": "https://qnfo.org/about",
  "peer_review_status": "Not independently peer-reviewed",
  "resource_type": "ScholarlyArticle",
  "doi": null,
  "doi_url": null,
  "url": "https://papers.qnfo.org/papers/the-calibration-loop-as-fixed-point-ontological-underdetermination-of-the-qubit-",
  "license_url": "https://legal.qnfo.org/",
  "license_spdx": null,
  "sha256": "0a8dea97f113124a9c2f9593b5d6630e626565580bd8fc0a0283f4163ba0c3c2",
  "version_url": "https://papers.qnfo.org/papers/the-calibration-loop-as-fixed-point-ontological-underdetermination-of-the-qubit-/v/1.1.0",
  "datacite": {
    "schemaVersion": "http://datacite.org/schema/kernel-4",
    "identifiers": [
      {
        "identifier": "https://papers.qnfo.org/papers/the-calibration-loop-as-fixed-point-ontological-underdetermination-of-the-qubit-",
        "identifierType": "URL"
      }
    ],
    "creators": [
      {
        "name": "Rowan Brad Quni-Gudzinas",
        "nameType": "Personal",
        "nameIdentifiers": [
          {
            "nameIdentifier": "https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4317-5604",
            "nameIdentifierScheme": "ORCID",
            "schemeUri": "https://orcid.org"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "titles": [
      {
        "title": "The Calibration Loop as Fixed Point: Ontological Underdetermination of the Qubit by Its Own Metrology"
      }
    ],
    "publisher": "QNFO",
    "publicationYear": "2026",
    "resourceType": {
      "resourceTypeGeneral": "Text",
      "resourceType": "ScholarlyArticle"
    },
    "subjects": [
      {
        "subject": "High-quality scholarly research",
        "subjectScheme": "QNFO publisher classification",
        "schemeUri": "https://qnfo.org/about"
      },
      {
        "subject": "open-access scholarly work",
        "subjectScheme": "QNFO publisher classification",
        "schemeUri": "https://qnfo.org/about"
      },
      {
        "subject": "versioned research publication",
        "subjectScheme": "QNFO publisher classification",
        "schemeUri": "https://qnfo.org/about"
      }
    ],
    "dates": [
      {
        "date": "2026-10-11",
        "dateType": "Issued"
      },
      {
        "date": "2026-10-19",
        "dateType": "Updated"
      }
    ],
    "language": "en",
    "version": "1.1.0",
    "rightsList": [
      {
        "rightsUri": "https://legal.qnfo.org/"
      }
    ],
    "descriptions": [
      {
        "description": "Engineered qubits are certified through a closed calibration chain in which drive pulses, readout discriminators, and tomographic validation mutually calibrate one another. This self‑referential loop raises the question of whether the physical referent of the qubit label (collective circuit mode, electronic transition, or spin) is determined by the loop itself or remains underdetermined. We formalize the calibration hierarchy as an iterated map, derive its contraction condition, and compute the number of iterations required to reach the readout noise floor. Using a two‑level abstraction and a three‑level anharmonic ladder with leakage amplitude |c|, we prove that, under any measurement chain confined to the computational subspace, the two ontologies produce identical outcome distributions (total‑variation distance $0$). By assuming a typical trapped‑ion readout fidelity of 99.991\\% and a leakage probability of |c|²=0.01, we obtain a per‑shot error of 9×10^-5, a minimum of $11$ calibration iterations, and a shot budget of N≥2500 (one‑sigma) required to resolve the ontologies once a leakage‑resolving observable is available. The circularity is broken only by measurements that extend beyond the calibrated subspace or by cross‑platform consistency constraints. We enumerate the conditions under which each claim would fail.",
        "descriptionType": "Abstract"
      },
      {
        "description": "Publisher quality classification: High-quality scholarly research. QNFO publisher classification for open-access, versioned research with a public revision history and reader correction channel; this is not a claim of independent peer review.",
        "descriptionType": "Other"
      },
      {
        "description": "Peer review status: Not independently peer-reviewed",
        "descriptionType": "Other"
      }
    ],
    "formats": [
      "text/html"
    ]
  }
}