Layered Operational Realism: A Tripartite Framework for Interpreting Mesoscopic Quantum Phenomena and Tabletop Gravity

Layered Operational Realism (LOR) is introduced not as a replacement for quantum mechanics, but as a methodological framework for separating operational predictions from interpretational claims in mesoscopic quantum experiments and tabletop gravity proposals. The framework distinguishes three layers: Layer I contains the empirically testable formalism of quantum mechanics, including unitary evolution, density operators, and Born-rule probabilities; Layer II concerns the emergence of classical objectivity through decoherence, environment-induced superselection, and Quantum Darwinism; Layer III contains optional ontological overlays such as Copenhagen, Everettian, QBist, relational, or collapse-based interpretations. Many contemporary disputes in mesoscopic quantum mechanics and gravitational entanglement experiments arise from conflating these layers. LOR does not resolve the measurement problem or provide a new physical law. Instead, it offers a disciplined framework for distinguishing experimentally testable claims from interpretational extrapolation.