Real Observers and the Holographic Principle

Abstract

The holographic principle asserts that the observable number of degrees of freedom inside a volume is proportional not to the volume, but to the surface area bounding the volume. There is currently a need to explain the principle in terms of a more fundamental microscopic theory. This paper suggests a potential explanation. This paper suggests that in general, for an observer to observe the r coordinate of an event, the process of making that observation must generate at least as much entropy as the information that the observation gains. Following on from that, this paper sets out a simple argument that leads to the result that observers on the surface of a sphere can observe an amount of information about the enclosed system that is no more than an amount that is proportional to the surface area of the sphere.