In 1941, E C G Stueckelberg wrote a paper, based on ideas of V Fock, that established the foundations of a theory that could covariantly describe the classical and quantum relativistic mechanics of a single particle. Horwitz and Piron extended the applicability of this theory in 1973 (to be called the SHP theory) to the many-body problem. It is the purpose of this book to explain this development and provide examples of its applications.

We first review the basic ideas of the SHP theory, both classical and quantum, and develop the appropriate form of electromagnetism on this dynamic. After studying the two-body problem classically and quantum mechanically, we formulate the N-body problem. We then develop the general quantum scattering theory for the N-body problem and prove a quantum mechanical relativistically covariant form of the Gell-Mann–Low theorem. The quantum theory of relativistic spin is then developed, including spin-statistics, providing the necessary apparatus for Clebsch–Gordan additivity, and we then discuss the phenomenon of entanglement at unequal times.

In the second part, we develop relativistic statistical mechanics, including a mechanism for stability of the off-shell mass, and a high-temperature phase transition to the mass shell. Finally, some applications are given, such as the explanation of the Lindner et al experiment, the proposed experiment of Palacios et al, which should demonstrate relativistic entanglement (at unequal times), the space-time lattice, low-energy nuclear reactions and applications to black hole physics.