Thermodynamic cost of stabilized persistence in coarse-grained systems under irreversible dynamics

This paper derives a structural localization constraint on stabilized persistence in coarse-grained systems under irreversible dynamics. Finite-resolution identity relative to a reference baseline defines a distinguishability margin and a corresponding passive first-exit time. If a subsystem remains identifiable beyond this passive limit, the entropy production required to maintain distinguishability cannot remain confined within the focal subsystem but must be exported to auxiliary degrees of freedom. In the information-assisted stabilization regime, this appears as a lower bound on exported entropy flow in terms of the information acquired for correction. This yields a directly testable diagnostic: if observed persistence exceeds the passive first-exit time predicted from independently characterized internal dynamics, the supporting processes lie outside the chosen system boundary. A minimal four-state bipartite Markov model provides an explicit statistical-mechanical realization, showing how stabilization extends persistence while generating the required entropy flow. When stabilization fails, identity loss occurs as an irreversible boundary-crossing event. The result is complementary to Landauer’s principle: Landauer bounds the thermodynamic cost of destroying distinguishability, whereas the present result bounds the cost of maintaining it against irreversible contraction.