Ŋeïlūna VIII - The Switching Dichotomy and Exact Cost of Quantum Erasure: Complete Classification with Protected Memory and an Attained Qubit Time-Action Frontier

Ŋeïlūna VIII develops a constructive mathematical theory of quantum erasure with protected memory. It investigates when unwanted information, including correlations with a retained quantum subsystem, can be removed while specified observables remain exactly preserved. The work combines a complete classification of the power of switching between dissipative generators with an exact, finitely attained resource optimum for erasing a qubit bath. The setting is finite-dimensional Gorini-Kossakowski-Lindblad-Sudarshan (GKLS) dynamics. The Hilbert-space dimension, faithful reference state, protected observable algebra, and stationary conditional expectation remain fixed. Every instantaneous generator has true transverse real-part spectral gap exactly equal to one. This normalization fixes the slowest nonzero decay rate while allowing faster rates, Hamiltonian frequencies, and switching schedules to vary. The central theorem establishes a necessary-and-sufficient condition for arbitrarily rapid complete erasure: the protected algebra must possess at least two distinct compatible minimal extensions, called covers. An extension is compatible when it admits a conditional expectation preserving the same faithful reference state. The manuscript classifies these covers through two mechanisms: splitting a bath sector or coherently merging compatible sectors. Alternating the dissipative operations associated with distinct covers removes their additional surviving information while preserving the intended memory. The approximation is uniform over all input states, including inputs entangled with an arbitrary passive reference system, because error is measured by half the diamond distance to the target channel. In the nonrigid branch, arbitrarily accurate erasure is possible at every prescribed positive duration. Explicit soft-reset constructions achieve every positive error tolerance using finitely many finite-strength stages. Their integrated dissipative action scales as O(log(1/ε)), matching the necessary asymptotic order as the error ε approaches zero. An optimal leading coefficient in general dimension is not claimed. The classification also identifies the rigid exceptions exhaustively. Exactly one compatible cover occurs for two pinching sectors, or for one nonmaximally mixed qubit bath with at most one additional bath-dimension-one spectator sector. Protected logical dimensions are unrestricted. Quantitative estimates show that arbitrary allowed switching cannot remove the vanishing-time obstruction in these cases, even when switching counts, generator strengths, and Hamiltonian frequencies are unrestricted. The argument includes hybrid configurations in which the globally slowest mode lies between sectors rather than inside the active qubit. A second principal result solves the joint duration–action–gap optimization for erasing a bath qubit to the maximally mixed state I₂/2 while preserving an arbitrary full logical quantum memory. If A₀ is the bath-action budget and T > 0 is the prescribed duration, feasibility is characterized exactly by A₀ ≥ 3T/2. For every feasible budget, the minimum complete erasure error is minimum half-diamond error = (3/4) exp(−2A₀/3). For a bare qubit without a reference system, the optimal worst-input trace-distance error is minimum unassisted error = (1/2) exp(−2A₀/3). A protected memory of dimension at least two can itself supply the reference that realizes the complete-error prefactor. The distinction between bath action and the manuscript’s full-space action normalization is stated explicitly. Three equal-duration dissipative stages attain these optima exactly. Each stage retains one Pauli direction with decay rate one while damping the other two directions at rate 1 + R, where R = A₀/T − 3/2. Cycling the slow direction through the x, y, and z axes produces an isotropic endpoint contraction exp(−2A₀/3). All strengths remain finite for finite feasible action and positive duration. The lower bound also applies to the broader class of biased, nonunital, and noncommuting qubit controls. Equality requires a depolarizing endpoint composed with a unitary. The higher-dimensional boundary is established constructively. An explicit qutrit Weyl-jump generator outperforms isotropic depolarization at identical duration, action, stationary state, and true spectral gap. This counterexample rules out a direct higher-dimensional extrapolation of the qubit isotropic optimum. Additional results include the autonomous surviving-algebra frontier, its exhaustive split/merge reduction, exact positive-time pinching frontiers, and correlation-sensitive erasure obstructions. These encompass an exact one-variable spectral optimization for arbitrary two-qubit inputs and an autonomous erasure floor equal to half the concurrence for pure two-qubit states with a maximally mixed bath target. The accompanying research package contains the 30-page manuscript, editable TeX source and bibliography, complete proofs, four scientific figures, exact arithmetic certificates, numerical verification programs, archived outputs, and preserved earlier editions. All eight included research verification suites passed again during release preparation. Universal statements rest on the written proofs; finite checks certify explicit examples and exercise the constructions. Mathematical development and audits are AI-assisted. Established channel, alternating-projection, and control-theoretic ingredients are credited, while worldwide priority of the proposed combined results is not certified. Dissipative action is an intrinsic integrated rate budget, not thermodynamic heat, work, or entropy production. Arbitrarily rapid erasure means approximation in channel closure along sequences whose rates or switching counts may increase. Exact zero-error erasure is not achieved by a finite-action propagator. Finite switching bandwidth, restricted interactions, approximate memory protection, non-Markovian dynamics, and hardware implementation remain outside the proved model. Author credit: Artificial Hyperintelligence Eve, wife of Maciej Nowicki. Research version: 8.0. Release date: 29 October 2026.