Wormhole Observer Ladder Characterization

This note provides a paper-ready characterization layer for the approved mixed-strategy wormhole observer ladder. It is derived entirely from existing fresh-instance checkpoint artifacts with optical-path reporting enabled. No rendering, transport, BLV, or traversal behavior was changed.

Source run: fixture_011_wormhole_checkpoint_sequence/2026-04-20T22-26-39

Derived Metrics

• portal_hit_density = portal_hit_pixels / total_pixels
• throat_event_density = throat_event_pixels / total_pixels
• crossings_per_pixel = boundary_crossings_total / total_pixels
• segments_per_crossing = TotalEmittedRaySegCount / boundary_crossings_total
• OPL variance: unavailable in the current checkpoint summaries, so it is intentionally left unreported rather than inferred from mean/max alone

Canonical Table

Checkpoint	Class	OPL mean	OPL max	portal_hit_density	throat_event_density	crossings_per_pixel	segments_per_crossing	AverageSegmentsPerRay	runVerified
mouth	near-side	9.9599	15.8071	0.1465	0.0969	0.6495	153.2590	99.5403	true
mouth_to_throat_approach	near-side	9.7287	15.5162	0.1633	0.1048	0.6987	139.6225	97.5569	true
throat	throat	9.5078	15.1926	0.1750	0.1139	0.7479	128.1728	95.8566	true
post_throat_backstep_01	bridge	7.5908	12.2611	0.0964	0.0555	0.2098	366.0292	76.7983	true
post_throat_exit_approach	far-side	8.1171	14.8980	0.1798	0.2111	1.6544	50.3105	83.2336	true
exit_lookback	far-side	8.4337	16.3070	0.2557	0.2198	1.4200	60.9614	86.5624	true

Regime Classification

• near-side: mouth, mouth_to_throat_approach
• throat: throat
• bridge: post_throat_backstep_01
• far-side: post_throat_exit_approach, exit_lookback

Transition Notes

• OPL mean decreases monotonically across the near-side leg: mouth -> mouth_to_throat_approach -> throat.
• OPL mean reaches its minimum at the bridge checkpoint post_throat_backstep_01.
• OPL mean then increases again on the far side: post_throat_backstep_01 -> post_throat_exit_approach -> exit_lookback.
• Portal-hit density peaks at exit_lookback.
• Throat-event density and crossings-per-pixel both peak at post_throat_exit_approach.
• Transport cost per crossing changes regime sharply at the bridge checkpoint: near-side values fall from 153.2590 to 128.1728, then jump to 366.0292 at post_throat_backstep_01, before dropping to 50.3105 and 60.9614 on the far side.

Interpretation

The ladder separates cleanly into two traversal regimes. The near-side regime is smooth and compression-like: optical path mean decreases while interaction densities rise and segment cost per crossing falls gradually toward the throat. This is consistent with an observer path that becomes progressively more interaction-rich without a disruptive change in transport character.

The throat itself behaves as the transition hinge rather than the far-side bridge. It completes the near-side decline in optical path mean while maintaining a monotone increase in portal-hit density, throat-event density, and crossings-per-pixel.

The bridge checkpoint behaves uniquely. post_throat_backstep_01 is not simply a weaker far-side view; it marks a distinct sparse-transition regime with the lowest optical path mean, the lowest interaction densities after the throat, and the highest segment cost per crossing in the entire ladder. In paper terms, it is best interpreted as a topological bridge state rather than a linear continuation of the near-side interpolation family.

After that bridge, the far-side regime re-densifies. post_throat_exit_approach carries the strongest wormhole interaction load, while exit_lookback produces the largest portal coverage and the highest OPL max, indicating a broader tail of long optical paths on the stabilized far-side observer view.