Over the past five de-::ades researchers have sought to develop a new framework that would
resolve the anomalies attributable to a patchwork formulation of relativistic quantum
mechanics. This book chronicles the development of a new paradigm for describing relativistic
quantum phenomena. What makes the new paradigm unique is its inclusion of a physically
measurable invariant evolution parameter. The resulting theory has been sufficiently well
developed in the refereed literature that it is now possible to present a synthesis of its
ideas and techniques. My synthesis is intended to encourage and enhance future research and is
presented in six parts. The environment within which the conventional paradigm exists is
described in the Introduction. Part I eases the mainstream reader into the ideas of the new
paradigm by providing the reader with a discussion that should look very familiar but contains
subtle nuances. Indeed I try to provide the mainstream reader with familiar landmarks
throughout the text. This is possible because the new paradigm contains the conventional
paradigm as a subset. The foundation of the new paradigm is presented in Part II fol!owed by
numerous applications in the remaining three parts. The reader should notice that the new
paradigm handles not only the broad class of problems typically dealt with in conventional
relativistic quantum theory but also contains fertile research areas for both experimentalists
and theorists. To avoid developing a theoretical framework without physical validity numerous
comparisons between theory and experiment are provided and several predictions are made.
