HLV-SF-HLVSPEC-002 v0.1.0: Pre-Execution Protocol Freeze for a Confinement-Relevant Closed-Ring Host-Specificity Test in the HLV Strong-Force Programme

This record contains the pre-execution protocol freeze HLV-SF-HLVSPEC-002 v0.1.0 for the HLV Strong-Force / Confinement-Specificity Programme. The protocol prospectively defines a finite-model test of whether the native HLV carrier supports a low-energy closed-ring sector whose capacity statistic is robustly distinguishable from mandatory matched non-HLV control families. The primary observable is a minimum-cycle-basis closed-ring density constructed from an exactly derived localized quadratic ring energy. For the frozen minimal nontrivial triadic winding set, the localized minimum is E_loc^min(γ) = 12π² / |γ|, where |γ| is the length of the corresponding simple cycle. This result is exact within the explicitly defined localized-cycle trial class and is not asserted to be the global minimum of the complete HLV field theory. The primary endpoint T_ring measures the density of prospectively defined low-energy minimum-cycle-basis sectors per graph vertex. Energy cutoffs are determined using independent, target-blind control calibration ensembles before confirmatory HLV evaluation. The freeze specifies: • finite-size radii R = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; • an unweighted minimum-cycle-basis sector definition; • a fixed minimal triadic winding set; • an exact localized ring-energy definition; • independent target-blind cutoff calibration; • PER, RND, PW, and IRR mandatory matched control families; • deterministic SHA-256-derived random seeds; • 16 calibration realizations per control family and radius; • 64 confirmatory evaluation realizations per control family and radius; • preregistered robust separation and relative-effect thresholds; • a terminal-radius requirement at R = 5 and R = 6; • an all-control-family conjunction for the strongest positive verdict; • mandatory cycle-basis, relabeling, energy-identity, calibration-lock, control-matching, finite-size, and reproducibility checks; • explicit negative, limited, computationally unresolved, and protocol-invalid verdicts. This record contains no HLV-SF-HLVSPEC-002 target result and no confirmatory simulation output. It is deposited before execution to prevent retrospective modification of the primary statistic, thresholds, controls, finite-size rule, or verdict logic. Scientific claim boundary: Even the strongest permitted positive verdict would establish only finite-model host-specificity of the frozen localized closed-ring capacity statistic. It would not establish QCD color confinement, a Yang–Mills mass gap, a physical string tension, quark or gluon identification, a glueball state, X(2370), Y(2240), physical hadron masses, or physical golden-ratio specificity. This protocol follows the preceding HLV-SF-HLVSPEC-001 and HLV-SF-SECONF-002 stages and is intended as the next prospectively frozen host-specificity gate in the HLV strong-force programme.