The threshold-tuning smoke at 81decf40f produced n_trades=0 despite
74.6% of decisions having max_conv ≥ 0.30 — the linear-weighted-mean
aggregator in decision_policy_default is structurally dilution-bound
at cold-start (per spec §1).
Q1 stopgap: when sim_variants[i].use_cold_start_stopgap = true, the
harness uploads a max-confidence Strategy bytecode program for that
backtest, routing decisions through decision_policy_program with
OP_AGG_MAX_CONFIDENCE. Existing kernel; zero CUDA changes.
Field additions (atomically across BatchedSimConfig + UniformSimParams
+ ResolvedSimVariant + SweepBase.SimVariant) — every UniformSimParams
literal migrated to include use_cold_start_stopgap: false (default).
The sweep YAML's sim_variants entry sets it to true only for the
validation run; production deployability uses Q2's kernel fix instead.
Sweep YAML (config/ml/sweep_smoke.yaml) flipped to use_cold_start_stopgap=true
at threshold=0.0, cost=0.125 — same anchor as the threshold-tuning
smoke that produced n_trades=0, for direct comparison.
This is a VALIDATION step. Cluster smoke at this commit MUST produce
n_trades > 100 + finite metrics. Q2's kernel CBSW immediately follows
and deletes this entire stopgap atomically (field, harness branch,
YAML setting, every literal).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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