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Unlike a regular distance-time graph, the distance is displayed on the horizontal axis and time on the vertical axis. Additionally, the time and space units of measurement are chosen in such a way that an object moving at the speed of light is depicted as following a 45° angle to the diagram's axes.
If one imagines the light confined to a two-dimensional plane, the light from the flash spreads out in a circle after the event E occurs, and if we graph the growing circle with the vertical axis of the graph representing time, the result is a cone, known as the future light cone. The past light cone behaves like the future light cone in ...
The large scale structure of space-time. Cambridge monographs on mathematical physics (21st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-09906-6. See Chapter 5 for a very clear discussion of Penrose diagrams (the term used by Hawking & Ellis) with many examples. Kaufmann, William J. III (1977). The Cosmic Frontiers of General Relativity.
In physics, spacetime, also called the space-time continuum, is a mathematical model that fuses the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional continuum. Spacetime diagrams are useful in visualizing and understanding relativistic effects, such as how different observers perceive where and when events ...
where c is the speed of light, and Δr and Δt denote differences of the space and time coordinates, respectively, between the events. The choice of signs for s 2 above follows the space-like convention (−+++). A notation like Δr 2 means (Δr) 2. The reason s 2 and not s is called the interval is that s 2 can be positive, zero or negative.
A curve M in [spacetime] is called a worldline of a particle if its tangent is future timelike at each point. The arclength parameter is called proper time and usually denoted τ. The length of M is called the proper time of the particle. If the worldline M is a line segment, then the particle is said to be in free fall. [1]: 62–63
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 separation of the mirrors is L and the clock ticks once each time the light pulse hits mirror A. In the frame in which the clock is at rest (see left part of the diagram), the light pulse traces out a path of length 2L and the time period between the ticks of the clock is equal to 2L divided by the speed of light c: