Measurement Conditioning and Apparent Collapse in the Finite Relational Closure Framework
Abstract
This manuscript examines measurement update and the appearance of wave function collapse within the Finite Relational Closure Framework (FRCF). The central proposal is that the predictive role usually associated with collapse can be represented as conditioning on a finite recorded outcome, rather than as a physical reduction of an underlying state. For a measurement context C, admissible relational assignments form a constrained set Σ(C), and a finite measurement map partitions this set into outcome classes. When an outcome is recorded, subsequent predictions are made over the conditioned admissible domain compatible with that outcome. In this sense, measurement update is represented as domain restriction followed by renewed aggregation and normalization. The manuscript develops this idea for compatible sequential measurements, incompatible measurements requiring contextual refinement, projection-like repeatability, loss of interference, and conditional correlation updates in composite systems. It also distinguishes conditional update from controllable signaling, treating no-signaling as a marginal-consistency condition on admissible joint measurement contexts. The analysis is intended as a finite-measurement account of the update role associated with apparent collapse. It does not attempt to derive the full projection formalism, generalized measurements, continuous-spectrum measurement theory, apparatus dynamics, or generator-based measurement dynamics, which are left for future work.
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BibTeX
@misc{durbin2026measurement,
title = {{Measurement Conditioning and Apparent Collapse in the Finite Relational Closure Framework}},
author = {Charles Durbin},
howpublished = {Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20350048},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20350048},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Measurement Conditioning and Apparent Collapse in the Finite Relational Closure Framework
AU - Charles Durbin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/23
PB - Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
DO - 10.5281/zenodo.20350048
UR - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20350048
AB - This manuscript examines measurement update and the appearance of wave function collapse within the Finite Relational Closure Framework (FRCF). The central proposal is that the predictive role usually associated with collapse can be represented as conditioning on a finite recorded outcome, rather than as a physical reduction of an underlying state. For a measurement context C, admissible relational assignments form a constrained set Σ(C), and a finite measurement map partitions this set into outcome classes. When an outcome is recorded, subsequent predictions are made over the conditioned admissible domain compatible with that outcome. In this sense, measurement update is represented as domain restriction followed by renewed aggregation and normalization. The manuscript develops this idea for compatible sequential measurements, incompatible measurements requiring contextual refinement, projection-like repeatability, loss of interference, and conditional correlation updates in composite systems. It also distinguishes conditional update from controllable signaling, treating no-signaling as a marginal-consistency condition on admissible joint measurement contexts. The analysis is intended as a finite-measurement account of the update role associated with apparent collapse. It does not attempt to derive the full projection formalism, generalized measurements, continuous-spectrum measurement theory, apparatus dynamics, or generator-based measurement dynamics, which are left for future work.
ER -