preprints.org > physical sciences > thermodynamics > doi: 10.20944/preprints202311.1806.v1

Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 26 November 2023 / Approved: 28 November 2023 / Online: 29 November 2023 (11:12:38 CET)

It is argued that all physical knowledge ultimately stems from observation and that the simplest possible observation is that an event has happened at a certain space-time location . Considering historic experiments, which had been groundbreaking in the evolution of our modern ideas of matter on the atomic, nuclear and elementary particle scales, it is shown that such experiments produce as outputs macroscopically observable events which represent binary decisions with regard to simple alternatives and which accumulate in the course of time into spatio-temporal patterns whose forms allow decisions to be taken concerning conceivable alternatives of explanation. Working towards elucidating the physical and information-theoretic characteristics of those elementary pieces of information we arrive at the conclusion that - unlike the events of relativity which are mere 4-tuples of spacetime coordinates - the events of observation are pieces of information endowed with the properties of physical action, spacetime extension, and Lorentz invariance. Another important aspect is that such events are produced at the expense of irreversibly dissipating energy which can be stated in Landauer diction in the form that more energy needs to be spent in the erasure of events than had previously been invested in their initiation.

physical measurement; information gain; event generation; physical action; energy dissipation; spacetime extention; relativistic invariance

Physical Sciences, Thermodynamics

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