Abstract
The mass–energy–information equivalence principle proposed in 2019 and the information content of the observable matter in the universe estimated in 2021 represent two important conjectures, called the information conjectures. Combining information theory and physical principles of thermodynamics, these theoretical proposals made specific predictions about the mass of information as well as the most probable information content per elementary particle. Here, we propose an experimental protocol that allows for empirical verification of the information conjectures by confirming the predicted information content of elementary particles. The experiment involves a matter–antimatter annihilation process. When an electron–positron annihilates, in addition to the two 511 keV gamma photons resulting from the conversion of their rest masses into energy, we predict that two additional low energy photons should be detected, resulting from their information content erasure. At room temperature, a positron–electron annihilation should produce two ∼50 µm wavelength infrared photons due to the information erasure. This experiment could, therefore, confirm both information conjectures and the existence of information as the fifth state of matter in the universe.
Highlights
Since IBM’s development of the first magnetic hard disk drive (RAMAC) in 1956, digital information storage technologies have radically transformed our modern society
The successful detection of the information energy photons ν+ and ν− will confirm both information conjectures: (i) the mass–energy–information equivalence principle and (ii) the bit information content of elementary particles implying the existence of information as the fifth state of matter
Two information conjectures have been recently proposed: (a) the mass–energy–information equivalence principle,11 stating that information transcends into mass or energy depending on its physical state and (b) the existence of an intrinsic information underpinning the fundamental characteristics of elementary particles in the universe, implying that stable, non-zero rest mass elementary particles store a fixed and quantifiable value of information about themselves
Summary
Since IBM’s development of the first magnetic hard disk drive (RAMAC) in 1956, digital information storage technologies have radically transformed our modern society. Because Shannon’s information theory is applicable to all forms of information systems and it is not restricted only to digital states, the author extrapolated the applicability of the M/E/I principle to all forms of information, proposing that information is the fifth state of matter.11,12 These ideas, regarded as the information conjectures, are truly transformational because, without violating any laws of physics, they offer possible explanations to a number of unsolved problems in physics, as well as complementing and expanding our understanding of all branches of physics and the universe and its governing laws. The recent prediction of the information mass content per elementary particle allows us to extend this experimental idea beyond digital data storage to a simple material body of mass m. In this paper, we combine the estimates of the information content per elementary particle, with the M/E/I equivalence principle, to formulate a new experimental protocol suitable to test the information conjectures
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