QUANTIZATION OF TIME - AN IMPLICATION OF STRICTLY-IRREVERSIBLE EVOLUTION OF DYNAMICALLY ISOLATED QUANTUM-SYSTEMS

Quantized time-lapses are determined to be an essential feature of the changes undergone by the energy-eigenfunction-evaluated matrix elemen ts of statistical operators that evolve in accord with an intrinsic te mporal discreteness characteristic of strictly-irreversible behavior. They are inversely proportional to their associated energy differences , with a proportionality constant that is universal. An analysis of ap propriate experimental ''quantum-beat'' processes is described which m ay serve to evaluate the constant. Once it is, a fully-determinable dy namical theory of strictly-irreversible evolution is the result, in wh ich, except for temporal-discreteness, the conventional description of quantum-mechanical systems is maintained.