Published 1984 | Version v1
Book

On the four-dimensional character of micro-physical phenomena

  • 1. Santpoort-Zuid, Netherlands

Description

It is proved that retroactive effects exist in Nature. This emphasizes the fact that micro-processes constitute integrated wholes so much that it is no longer far-fetched to posit the hypothesis that events, that is, action, rather than objects, constitute the proper stuff of the (four-dimensional) Universe. Mind here, too, that retroactivity implies that the future and future parts of events 'exist already'. Then, distances between (e.g., alternative) events A and B have to be measured by the quantity of 'occurring' or action that is needed in order to transform event A into event B. The action metric so introduced appears to be in a position to solve the nonlocality paradoxes of quantum mechanics such as wave-particle 'duality' and the EPR paradox. In this connection, the Minkowski metric corresponds to a macro scheme which cannot be 'interpolated' to within a micro-process, i.e., to within action quanta, without producing serious metrical distortions. Generally, metric is considered to be a property of events, it having no existence independent of them as a 'pre-existing scheme'. Planck's elementary quantities of action h are seen as real entities in the four-dimensional world, i.e., as the 'atoms of occurring'. By intersecting (dilated) series of them with a now-hyperplane we in an imaginable way get the wave patterns satisfying the relevant wave equation. (Auth.)

Additional details

Publishing Information

Publisher
D. Reidel.
Imprint Place
Dordrecht (Netherlands)
ISBN
90-277-1664-1
Imprint Title
The wave-particle dualism
Imprint Pagination
573 p.
Series
Fundamental Theories of Physics.
Journal Page Range
p. 433-456.

Conference

Title
International symposium on the wave-particle dualism.
Dates
22-30 Apr 1982.
Place
Perugia (Italy).

Optional Information

Notes
Imprint:Includes index.