The Energy–Persistence Framework: A Structural Measurement Description of Physical Systems Under Irreversibility

Physical theories describe how states change over time, yet they implicitly presuppose that systems persist as identifiable entities long enough for change to be meaningful. In a universe governed by irreversible processes, this presupposition is nontrivial. This preprint identifies a universal structural constraint on persistence: any physical system that remains identifiable over a duration must satisfy a finite accounting bound on accumulated irreversible entropy production. The result introduces no new dynamics, forces, or mechanisms. Instead, it formalizes persistence as an admissibility condition on physical histories. The framework is intended as a cross-domain structural principle applicable to quantum, classical, biological, engineered, and cosmological systems, clarifying the conditions under which identity-based description remains valid under irreversibility.