Time Directivity

Time directivity is the claim, central to N. A. Kozyrev's September 1967 paper Possibility of Experimental Study of the Properties of Time (JPRS #45238), that the difference between past and future is an objective physical quality rather than a merely statistical or psychological one. Kozyrev treats this directivity as the first axiom of his causal mechanics: time possesses a quality that distinguishes causes from effects. It is the axiom from which the rest of the framework is built, rather than a conclusion derived from it.

The axiomatic structure

Kozyrev pairs Hypothesis I (time directivity) with two further axioms:

• Axiom II. Causes and results are separated in space (dx ≠ 0).
• Axiom III. Causes and results are separated in time (dt ≠ 0, with a fixed sign).

From these he defines the pseudo-scalar constant C₂ = dx/dt, with the dimensionality of velocity, characterizing the "pattern of time." See Time Pattern as a Pseudo-Scalar (C₂).

Why an axiom rather than a derivation

Kozyrev argues that exact science has reduced time to a spatial-like interval in Minkowski four-space, leaving mechanics time-symmetric and therefore unable to distinguish cause from effect. He cites H. Reichenbach on the problem of defining the direction of time through causality, and G. J. Whitrow on the natural philosophy of time. The difficulty he addresses is circularity: if the direction of time is defined by the direction of causation, and causation is defined by temporal order, the definition is tautological. Kozyrev's response is to make time directivity primitive. See h-reichenbach and g-j-whitrow.

Consequences claimed

Kozyrev argues that classical mechanics (dx ≠ 0, dt = 0, C₂ = ∞) and atomic mechanics (dx = 0, dt ≠ 0, C₂ = 0) are two extreme cases of his axiomatics. He claims the third Newtonian law follows directly from causality and the time pattern (Eqs. 4–5), and that the time pattern of our world is positive in a laevorotary (left-hand) coordinate system — which he offers as an objective physical definition of left and right, citing Gauss on the coordination of the concepts of left and right.

Because C₂ is a pseudo-scalar, it changes sign under mirror inversion. Kozyrev states the resulting theorem as: "A world with an opposite time pattern is equivalent to our world, reflected in a mirror." He compares the time pattern to an ideal gyroscope, writing it as ±iC₂, with an added ±ju term when rotation enters the causal relationship.

He also claims that the actual time pattern is finite, and therefore that "the principle of time can be reversible."

Experimental grounding

The directivity claim is given experimental content by the sign-reversal result: when the vibration source is moved from the rotor to the mounting, the measured effect reverses sign. Kozyrev reads this as a mechanical experiment that distinguishes cause from effect, and hence as evidence that the time pattern has a definite sign. The measured value of the constant is C₂ = +700 ± 50 km/sec in a left-hand system (Eq. 8), corresponding to Eq. (7) with a = 2.

Analogical context: parity nonconservation

Kozyrev appeals to the Lee–Yang weak-interaction parity-violation experiments as analogical support for a physically meaningful distinction between left and right. The appeal is analogical rather than derivational, and the paper itself concedes that "one can never make the opposite conclusion" from parity nonconservation — numerous interpretations of parity-violation phenomena remain possible. See Parity Nonconservation as Context (Kozyrev).

He also reads Louis Pasteur's discovery of chemical asymmetry in protoplasm as evidence of the same theme. See Biological Asymmetry and Time.

Limitations

The numerical estimate C₂ = a·350 km/sec depends on an undetermined dimensionless factor a; the paper says only that at "a considerable a-value" the additional forces are of order 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁵ of applied forces at u = 100 m/sec. The measured value C₂ = +700 ± 50 km/sec corresponds to a = 2, but the source does not derive why a should take that value. The paper also reports that the experiments are not always successful and depend on uncontrolled conditions, which bears on the reproducibility of the directivity measurements.

Assessment

The source presents directivity as Kozyrev's theoretical postulate, supported by his own experiments and by analogical appeals to parity violation and chemical chirality. No independent test is reported. See Properties of Time (Kozyrev).

See Causal Mechanics (Kozyrev's Asymmetrical Mechanics) for the wider framework and N. A. Kozyrev for the author.