The tempo of becoming: The physics of ν — law, two cadences, covariance, and the absence of a signature

Patrick Jaubert

Published Sep 12, 2026• 0 citations

Abstract

The ontological triplet of Time–Actualization (TA) comprises three primitives, one per temporal mode: ρ (the potential future, the object of quantum mechanics), ⟨P,≺⟩ (the causal past, the object of relativity), and ν (the tempo of the present). The two external primitives are imported. ν is TA's own, and hence the only locus of a physics that might belong to it — within one limit: ν is the cadence of a system, not of the substrate, whose own cadence comes with the causal set. This article details that physics in a single sweep, one section per heading. (A) Law: TA posits a correspondence between ν and an energy scale motivated by quantum speed limits, together with saturation where attainable; a bound on state motion alone does not bound an ontic event count. (B) Two cadences: the tick assigned to a system event is distinct from the substrate's far finer scale, and agreement with substrate proper time remains a correspondence requirement. (C) Covariance: the proposed energy scale is a Lorentz scalar in the effective clock regime considered here; this does not construct a covariant actualization dynamics. (D) No signature: empirical equivalence with quantum mechanics on the causal-set substrate is an admissibility requirement whose full verification remains open. The contribution is a conditional ontological reading of imported physics.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.22722657

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