Relational Observation-Frame Theory v0.1

Relational Observation-Frame Theory (ROFT) proposes a conservative operational framework in which observable structure is assigned not to a target system alone, but to the reproducible relation between the target system and an observation frame. The observation frame may include measurement basis, replay window, readout kernel, demodulation phase, synchronization clock, mapping operation, detector bandwidth, environmental coupling, and analysis protocol.

ROFT does not replace standard quantum mechanics, the Born rule, open-system dynamics, decoherence theory, Bell-type nonlocality, contextuality, or calibration-based device models. Instead, it introduces a diagnostic layer for asking when an observed structure depends reproducibly on the relation between internal system dynamics and observer-side access conditions.

The central thesis is that observable structure is not a system-only property, but a stable structure of a system–observation-frame relation. Let S denote a target system and O an observation frame. ROFT represents an observed data structure as D_O = M_O[ρ_S], where M_O includes the measurement, replay, readout, synchronization, mapping, and analysis operations associated with O. A structure is objectively observable in ROFT when it is reproducible under a specified system–observation-frame relation.

The framework predicts that two observation frames O_1 and O_2, applied to the same target system under comparable open-system conditions, may yield different observable synchronization-window widths, centers, deformations, or boundary signatures. In particular, ROFT defines the synchronization window Ξ_λ^(O) = {λ | C_sync^(O)(λ) ≥ C_th} as the finite parameter domain over which an observable structure remains stable under observation frame O.

ROFT is therefore not a claim that observation creates arbitrary reality. It is a claim that experimentally accessible structure should be assigned to a reproducible system–protocol relation, not to the target system alone. The paper positions ROFT as a front-end observation principle connecting replay-window reconstruction, synchronization-window metrics, temporal non-separability, Bell/contextuality motivation, open-system decoherence, and practical quantum-control diagnostics.