Experimental verifiability and topology

Abstract

We briefly show how the use of topological spaces and $\sigma$-algebras in physics can be rederived and understood as the fundamental requirement of experimental verifiability. We will see that a set of experimentally distinguishable objects will necessarily be endowed with a topology that is Kolmogorov (i.e. $T_0$) and second countable, which both puts constraints on well-formed scientific theories and allows us to give concrete physical meaning to the mathematical constructs. These insights can be taken as a first step in a general mathematical theory for experimental science.