The Principle of Least Constraint-Enforcement Cost (PLCEC) A Physical Selection Principle for Persistent Structures in Noisy Environments

The Principle of Least Constraint-Enforcement Cost (PLCEC) proposes a physical selection principle explaining why certain structures persist in noisy, dissipative environments while others decay. It states that, among physically admissible configurations, those requiring the least excess irreversible work to maintain internal constraints against stochastic perturbations statistically dominate over long timescales. By defining persistence in terms of excess entropy production relative to a maximal-entropy reference baseline, PLCEC reframes structural endurance as a thermodynamic consequence rather than a dynamical or optimization process. The framework complements existing laws such as least action and entropy production without modifying them, is explicitly testable through controlled simulations, and provides a conservative, physically grounded explanation for structural persistence in complex systems.