Universal Boundary Collapse: A Pre-Registration Protocol for Empirically Validating the SDV Functional in Starling Murmurations

This is a formal, time-stamped pre-registration protocol detailing the exact methodological blueprint for testing the Universal Boundary Collapse (UBC) framework in biological systems.

To empirically validate that the Spectral Derivative Variance (SDV) functional describes a substrate-independent law of structural failure, this document specifies the precise mathematical mapping required to apply the SDV metric onto 3D empirical tracking data of starling murmurations (the STARFLAG dataset).

It establishes strict, pre-data, falsifiable predictions for how the SDV metric will behave during density-induced collapse (Over-Integration) and fragmentation-induced collapse (Under-Integration). In accordance with rigorous pre-registration standards, this upload contains only the methodological protocol and theoretical predictions. Empirical results and simulated proof-of-concept data will be detailed in separate, subsequent publications.

Companion theoretical and mathematical works cited within:

• Robles Quiroz (2024). Universal Boundary Collapse: A Substrate-Independent Framework for Structural Failure in Complex Networks. Zenodo.
• Robles Quiroz (2024). A Spectral Derivative Variance Functional for Detecting Topological Instability in Coupled Oscillator Networks. Zenodo.