The Collapse Signature: Experimental Detection of Phase Transitions in Physical Plasma Systems

We present the first experimental validation of Collapse Principle entropy signatures in a physical system. Applying a substrate-independent coherence framework to published high-speed plasma footage — data collected by independent researchers for an unrelated investigation — we detect a consistent phase transition signature at every collapse event in a Jacob's Ladder arc discharge. Entropy compression to ground state: 15/15 events (100%). Energy release at collapse: 15/15 events (100%). Statistical significance: p < 0.0001 (binomial test). The detection framework was applied without modification or tuning. No prior publication has characterized arc discharge collapse behavior using entropy phase metrics. Working Paper WP-003, companion to WP-001 (The Collapse Principle, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.17507459).