The Complex Gaussian Wave Packet as a Physical Primitive

Paper abstract: All physical theories rely—implicitly or explicitly—on foundational objects that are taken as irreducible. These objects, referred to here as physical primitives, define what the theory accepts as a single physically realizable instance. This paper examines the notion of a physical primitive from first principles and argues that many traditional primitives used in physics are physically unrealizable. We then show that a complex Gaussian wave packet uniquely satisfies the requirements for a physically realizable primitive capable of representing a single instance of any physical value.