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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 term Minkowski diagram refers to a specific form of spacetime diagram frequently used in special relativity. A Minkowski diagram is a two-dimensional graphical depiction of a portion of Minkowski space, usually where space has been curtailed to a single dimension.
Hermann Minkowski was born in the town of Aleksota, the Suwałki Governorate, the Kingdom of Poland, since 1864 part of the Russian Empire, to Lewin Boruch Minkowski, a merchant who subsidized the building of the choral synagogue in Kovno, [10] [11] [12] and Rachel Taubmann, both of Jewish descent. [13]
This view of special relativity was first proposed by Albert Einstein's former professor Hermann Minkowski and is known as Minkowski space. The purpose was to create an invariant spacetime for all observers. To uphold causality, Minkowski restricted spacetime to non-Euclidean hyperbolic geometry. [1] [page needed]
space-like curves falling outside the light cone. Such curves may describe, for example, the length of a physical object. The circumference of a cylinder and the length of a rod are space-like curves. At a given event on a world line, spacetime (Minkowski space) is divided into three parts.
A point in Minkowski space is a time and spatial position, called an "event", or sometimes the position four-vector or four-position or 4-position, described in some reference frame by a set of four coordinates: = (,) where r is the three-dimensional space position vector.
The Minkowski space of special relativity (SR) and general relativity (GR) is a 4 dimensional pseudo-Euclidean space.The spacetime underlying Albert Einstein's field equations, which mathematically describe gravitation, is a real 4 dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold.
Spacetime topology is the topological structure of spacetime, a topic studied primarily in general relativity.This physical theory models gravitation as the curvature of a four dimensional Lorentzian manifold (a spacetime) and the concepts of topology thus become important in analysing local as well as global aspects of spacetime.