Time, The Physical Magnitude

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

   PDF

2. Generalities

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Introductory Remarks

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 3-9

3. Lawlike ‘Equivalence’ Between Time and Space

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

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   2. The More Than Two Millennia of Euclidean Geometry

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 13-16

   3. The Three Centuries of Newtonian Mechanics: Universal Time and Absolute Space

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 17-27

   4. Three Centuries of Kinematical Optics

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 28-41

   5. Todays NEC Plus Ultra of Metrology and Chronometry: ‘Equivalence’ of Space and Time

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 42-52

   6. Entering the Four-Dimensional Spacetime Paradigm

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 53-66

   7. The Magic of Spacetime Geometry

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 67-94

4. Lawlike Time Symmetry and Factlike Irreversibility

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 95-95

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   2. Overview

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 97-118

   3. Phenomenological Irreversibility

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 119-128

   4. Retarded Causality as a Statistical Concept. Arrowless Microcausality

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 129-141

   5. Irreversibility as a Cosmic Phenomenon

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 142-149

   6. Lawlike Reversibility and Factlike Irreversibility in the Negentropy-Information Transition

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 150-163

5. Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and the Problem of Becoming

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 165-165

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   2. Overview

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 167-184

   3. 1900–1925: The Quantum Springs Out, and Spreads

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 185-195

   4. 1925–1927: The Dawn of Quantum Mechanics with a Shadow: Relativistic Covariance Lost

      • Olivier Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 196-218

In an age characterized by impersonality and a fear of individuality this book is indeed unusual. It is personal, individualistic and idiosyncratic - a record of the scientific adventure of a single mind. Most scientific writing today is so depersonalized that it is impossible to recognize the man behind the work, even when one knows him. Costa de Beauregard's scientific career has focused on three domains - special relativity, statistics and irreversibility, and quantum mechanics. In Time, the Physical Magnitude he has provided a personal vade mecum to those problems, concepts, and ideas with which he has been so long preoccupied. Some years ago we were struck by a simple and profound observa­ tion of Mendel Sachs, the gist of which follows. Relativity is based on very simple ideas but, because it requires highly complicated mathe­ matics, people find it difficult. Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, derives from very complicated principles but, since its mathematics is straightforward, people feel they understand it. In some ways they are like the bourgeois gentilhomme of Moliere in that they speak quantum mechanics without knowing what it is. Costa de Beauregard recognizes the complexity of quantum mechanics. A great virtue of the book is that he does not hide or shy away from the complexity. He exposes it fully while presenting his ideas in a non-dogmatic way.

• Galileo Galilei
• calculus of probability
• invariance
• probability
• quantum mechanics

• Institut Henri Poincaré, Paris, France

  Olivier Costa Beauregard

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