No-signalling constraints on isolated outcome probabilities do not determine whether an apparatus preserves the joint law of its accessible records under repeated readout, network composition, or reuse. We study these extensions through a conditional-record criterion and four explicit models. For a wrapped-Cauchy retrocausal source, protection under two conditionally independent continuous readouts forces an angle-independent response; three readouts suffice without continuity. A finite angular-bandwidth assumption gives a quantitative leakage bound, whereas continuity alone gives no uniform stability. At a specified two-source Bell junction, the required correction matrix has full nonnegative rank on every even uniform angular grid. A Gaussian controller can cancel branch-mass dependence while leaving a distinguishable joint record, for which we derive exact noise and law-change tradeoffs. Finally, a fixed singlet with shared classical noise reproduces the variable-width isolated outcome family, but retained and refreshed controllers generate different temporal statistics. We prove a finite-resource obstruction and construct positive finite-controller approximations. Numerical studies comprising 8.3 million independent simulated histories support the model-specific predictions. Together, the results identify conditions that must accompany marginal no-signalling when extending an apparatus to richer records and interventions.
No-signalling constraints on isolated outcome probabilities do not determine whether an apparatus preserves the joint law of its accessible records under repeated readout, network composition, or reuse. We study these extensions through a conditional-record criterion and four explicit models. For a wrapped-Cauchy retrocausal source, protection under two conditionally independent continuous readouts forces an angle-independent response; three readouts suffice without continuity. A finite angular-bandwidth assumption gives a quantitative leakage bound, whereas continuity alone gives no uniform stability. At a specified two-source Bell junction, the required correction matrix has full nonnegative rank on every even uniform angular grid. A Gaussian controller can cancel branch-mass dependence while leaving a distinguishable joint record, for which we derive exact noise and law-change tradeoffs. Finally, a fixed singlet with shared classical noise reproduces the variable-width isolated outcome family, but retained and refreshed controllers generate different temporal statistics. We prove a finite-resource obstruction and construct positive finite-controller approximations. Numerical studies comprising 8.3 million independent simulated histories support the model-specific predictions. Together, the results identify conditions that must accompany marginal no-signalling when extending an apparatus to richer records and interventions.
A hidden-variable model can reproduce context-independent individual readouts while failing to preserve observable records when devices are connected or reused. We distinguish two composition requirements. For a finite family of nonnegative instrument matrices, an invariant space generated by normalization defects characterizes unit continuation mass under every finite adaptive policy. Its annihilator defines the maximal admissible positive cone closed under outcome-conditioned updates. A separate observation space characterizes indistinguishability of context-dependent hidden preparations under joint readout. A finite-state example passes every fixed sequence but fails under outcome-dependent stopping. For a wrapped-Cauchy spin source with an explicitly stipulated unchanged-source passive extension, two individually fair probes acquire a setting-dependent agreement probability with contrast ε2sech(2g)/4. More generally, protection under one and two identical uses forces a continuous binary passive response to be constant; measurable two-valued exceptions remain possible. Exact rational calculations, exhaustive finite-policy experiments, continuous source sampling, and quadrature test the stated examples. The criteria apply to specified instrument families and accessible records; they do not construct a microscopic detector or establish consistency under unrestricted network composition.
Adaptive measurements test whether a retrocausal model preserves observable records when experiments are connected by classical feedback. We establish exact and quantitative composition constraints for a finite-width, coplanar Schulman-type source with positive wrapped-Cauchy propagation weights. Raw segment composition admits an explicit adaptive signalling witness. A uniquely determined scalar correction preserves recorded continuations, and a detector with preparation memory implements this correction while retaining the source correlations. For common, independently prepared terminal detectors coupled to the source through arrival angles, exact calibration forces equal-mass antipodal atomic responses. Under setting-only raw feedback, the sharp minimum worst disturbance of an earlier record is ε⋆(0)=[2cosh(2Γ)]−1, where Γ is the total source-path width. We derive explicit finite-error bounds and prove linear small-error improvement. For four settings at Γ=0.4, a uniform reduction over arbitrary nonnegative response measures and a continuous polynomial certificate establish ε⋆(δ)=ε⋆(0)−C0.4δ+O(δ2), with C0.4≃9.351091771057010. A positive five-atom detector attains this coefficient. The results quantify the compatibility of isolated-source accuracy and adaptive record preservation, and provide precise design conditions for retrocausal apparatus models with explicit preparation, memory, and control.
Detector outcome probabilities can be independent of a later measurement setting even when earlier timestamps, detector seeds, or environmental records depend on that setting. We characterize complete-record preservation for a positive wrapped-Cauchy retrocausal spin source. An antipodal identity yields necessary and sufficient conditions for passive and environmental readouts, and source compensation permits a common normalized analyzer for source spins and prepared continuations. Gaussian controller and reset calculations distinguish inverse raw history weights from normalized thermal operations. A quantum instrument provides an operational benchmark, whereas a setting-dependent separable source produces setting-dependent statistics at an earlier joint probe. For two equal-width contexts, a calibrated weak probe requires a minimum source change of sech(2g)/8 in trace distance for exact protection at every nonzero strength. The signal--source-change tradeoff is sharp for this pair of contexts. A contextual positive-history construction recovers the isolated hidden law and preserves records for a specified class of finite adaptive quantum apparatuses, subject to quantum calibration and restricted field access. Direct readout of an added likelihood field distinguishes two future axes with unit probability. The analytical results are supported by continuous-angle and quantum-trajectory simulations, deterministic quadrature, and exhaustive enumeration of a finite policy class. The analysis concerns the specified statistical models; their microscopic physical realization remains an open question.
Abstract Decoherent-histories methods identify time-extended alternatives whose diagonal weights may support probabilistic interpretation, while environmental-record approaches ask which alternatives a specified observer can recover. We formulate their intersection as a finite branch-record packing problem generated from one cross-branch construction. A codebook is admissible only if its declared coarse-graining obeys a bounded probability-sum-rule error and its accessible states can be decoded under a specified observer policy with finite error. Uniform reweighting defines a geometric packing number; a communication interpretation additionally requires a preparation instrument. Retrospective resolution is stricter: the base history family is exhaustive, selected histories must cover sufficient physical diagonal weight and be individually recoverable, and the same declared quantum-to-classical measurement channel used for decoding must preserve approximate consistency after histories are refined by its registered outcomes. This measurement-refined condition quantitatively controls the difference between the actual outcome distribution and the normalized diagonal classical-quantum prediction. For uniform branch-record packing and its communication realizations, general converses follow from accessible dimension, fixed outcome count, Holevo-Fano information, and hypothesis testing. Exact models quantify record compression, access, memory, measurement policy, temporal dependence, and shared latent errors. In a jointly realized four-bit benchmark, scalar consistency and recovery admit six histories, whereas direct measurement-refined consistency under the declared local Helstrom instrument admits four at the same tolerances. Finite-sample procedures distinguish held-out recovery achievability, structure-conditional consistency certification, structural converses, independently constructed parameter intervals, and abstention.
Abstract Quantum readout is usually assessed through assignment error, confusion matrices, signal-to-noise ratio, readout time, leakage, crosstalk, reset fidelity, decoder performance, and logical error. These quantities are indispensable. They do not, however, determine whether a declared family of event histories and the outcomes physically registered at a terminal measurement support an approximately additive probability model on that finite event-outcome algebra. For a nonexhaustive selected family, the quantity is only an internal or conditional diagnostic unless an explicit outside-history cell is included. We formulate a platform-agnostic terminal-record framework that combines decoding performance, measurement-refined consistency, and explicit resource accounting. The registered positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) determines terminal outcome statistics; measurements embedded in dynamic circuits additionally require a quantum instrument specifying outcome-conditioned state evolution. The present quantity is therefore a terminal-record diagnostic. Its extension to ordinary irreversible syndrome extraction, ancilla reset and reuse, feed-forward, and history-dependent later gates is proposed but not derived.
Abstract Quantum readout is usually assessed through assignment error, confusion matrices, signal-to-noise ratio, readout time, leakage, crosstalk, reset fidelity, decoder performance, and logical error. These quantities are indispensable. They do not, however, determine whether a declared family of event histories and the outcomes registered at a terminal measurement support an approximately additive probability model on that finite event-outcome algebra. For a nonexhaustive selected family, the quantity is only an internal or conditional diagnostic unless an explicit outside-history cell is included. We formulate a platform-agnostic terminal-record framework that combines decoding performance, measurement-refined consistency, and abstract finite-resource constraints. The registered positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) determines terminal outcome statistics; measurements embedded in dynamic circuits additionally require a quantum instrument specifying outcome-conditioned state evolution. The present construction is therefore a terminal-record theory.