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The Minkowski distance or Minkowski metric is a metric in a normed vector space which can be considered as a generalization of both the Euclidean distance and the Manhattan distance. It is named after the Polish mathematician Hermann Minkowski. Comparison of Chebyshev, Euclidean and taxicab distances for the hypotenuse of a 3-4-5 triangle on a ...
In general relativity, the metric tensor (in this context often abbreviated to simply the metric) is the fundamental object of study. The metric captures all the geometric and causal structure of spacetime , being used to define notions such as time, distance, volume, curvature, angle, and separation of the future and the past.
Hermann Minkowski (1864–1909) found that the theory of special relativity could be best understood as a four-dimensional space, since known as the Minkowski spacetime.. In physics, Minkowski space (or Minkowski spacetime) (/ m ɪ ŋ ˈ k ɔː f s k i,-ˈ k ɒ f-/ [1]) is the main mathematical description of spacetime in the absence of gravitation.
The sign of the metric and the placement of the ct, ct', cdt, and cdt′ time-based terms can vary depending on the author's choice. For instance, many times the time-based terms are placed first in the four-vectors, with the spatial terms following.
nabla symbol) is the Laplace operator of Minkowski space. The operator is named after French mathematician and physicist Jean le Rond d'Alembert. In Minkowski space, in standard coordinates (t, x, y, z), it has the form
A detailed description was given by Friedrich Kottler (1914), [H 19] who formulated the corresponding orthonormal tetrad, transformation formulas and metric (2a, 2b). Also Karl Bollert (1922) [ H 20 ] obtained the metric ( 2b ) in his study of uniform acceleration and uniform gravitational fields.
The defining property for the gamma matrices to generate a Clifford algebra is the anticommutation relation {,} = + = ,where the curly brackets {,} represent the anticommutator, is the Minkowski metric with signature (+ − − −), and is the 4 × 4 identity matrix.
A four-vector A is a vector with a "timelike" component and three "spacelike" components, and can be written in various equivalent notations: [3] = (,,,) = + + + = + = where A α is the magnitude component and E α is the basis vector component; note that both are necessary to make a vector, and that when A α is seen alone, it refers strictly to the components of the vector.