A Physical Constraint Framework for P vs NP (Polynomial Time vs Nondeterministic Polynomial Time) Based on Finite Observers

This paper reframes the P vs NP problem as a question of physical realizability rather than formal mathematical equivalence. Computation is treated strictly as a physical process carried out by finite systems embedded in thermodynamic environments. Using only non-negotiable physical constraints—causality, locality, conservation, thermodynamics, stability, and irreversibility—it demonstrates a fundamental physical asymmetry between solution verification and solution generation. Verification is shown to be a localized boundary-condition check on an instantiated state, while generation requires global phase-space reduction through the suppression of competing configurations. The paper establishes a physics-only constraint framework that bounds what kinds of computational processes can be physically realized by finite observers, without proposing algorithms or addressing the formal mathematical P vs NP problem.