The Universal Entangled Collapse Field

This work introduces the Universal Entangled Collapse Framework (UECF), a testable hypothesis proposing that the scalability of quantum error correction (QEC) is ultimately limited not by theoretical noise thresholds alone, but by the exhaustion of physical system resources. UECF formalizes a multidimensional Collapse Threshold Index (CTI)—defined by measurable quantities such as minimum coherence time, average gate fidelity, power dissipation, and noise correlation—as the empirical boundary beyond which error correction fails, regardless of code redundancy.While the challenges of crosstalk, thermal load, and control fidelity are well known to experimentalists, UECF unifies these practical constraints into a single operational criterion, providing explicit protocols and quantitative metrics for experimental validation or falsification. The framework is designed to be implemented on current quantum hardware, with clear predictions: QEC collapse is expected to occur at resource thresholds lower than standard coding theory would predict, manifesting as abrupt loss of logical error suppression.This manuscript presents the conceptual framework, outlines detailed experimental protocols, and offers several candidate mathematical models for CTI, while recognizing that further empirical work will be required to refine its quantitative form. Although the analogy to other complex systems is discussed as a potential avenue for future exploration, the primary focus is on quantum error correction. UECF is presented as an open, collaborative hypothesis, and the authors invite immediate feedback, replication, and model refinement from the quantum information science community.