Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Theorists generally identify two historical periods in which time–space compression occurred; the period from the mid-19th century to the beginnings of the First World War, and the end of the 20th century. In both of these time periods, according to Jon May and Nigel Thrift, "there occurred a radical restructuring in the nature and experience ...
Rather than an invariant time interval between two events, there is an invariant spacetime interval. Combined with other laws of physics, the two postulates of special relativity predict the equivalence of mass and energy , as expressed in the mass–energy equivalence formula E = m c 2 {\displaystyle E=mc^{2}} , where c {\displaystyle ...
A spacetime diagram is typically drawn with only a single space and a single time coordinate. Fig. 2-1 presents a spacetime diagram illustrating the world lines (i.e. paths in spacetime) of two photons, A and B, originating from the same event and going in opposite directions. In addition, C illustrates the world line of a slower-than-light ...
Spacetime algebra is a type of geometric algebra that is closely related to Minkowski space, and is equivalent to other formalisms of special relativity. It uses mathematical objects such as bivectors to replace tensors in traditional formalisms of Minkowski spacetime, leading to much simpler equations than in matrix mechanics or vector calculus.
Most modern approaches to mathematical general relativity begin with the concept of a manifold. More precisely, the basic physical construct representing gravitation — a curved spacetime — is modelled by a four-dimensional, smooth, connected, Lorentzian manifold. Other physical descriptors are represented by various tensors, discussed below.
This is done in "3+1" formulations, where spacetime is split into three space dimensions and one time dimension. The best-known example is the ADM formalism . [ 174 ] These decompositions show that the spacetime evolution equations of general relativity are well-behaved: solutions always exist , and are uniquely defined, once suitable initial ...
Other important contributions were made by Laue (1911, 1913), who used the spacetime formalism to create a relativistic theory of deformable bodies and an elementary particle theory. [ 95 ] [ 96 ] He extended Minkowski's expressions for electromagnetic processes to all possible forces and thereby clarified the concept of mass–energy equivalence.