Definition:Minkowski Spacetime

Definition

Definition 1

Minkowski spacetime is the pseudo-Euclidean space $\R^{r, 1}$.

Definition 2

Minkowski spacetime is a $4$-dimensional model of physical space and time:

$3$ of those dimensions correspond to the position of an event in space

the remaining dimension represents the time of that event.

Also known as

Minkowski spacetime can also be seen rendered hyphenated, that is, as Minkowski space-time.

Other terms that can be found for the same concept:

Minkowskian space-time

Minkowski space

Minkowski world

Minkowski universe

$\paren {r + 1}$-dimensional Minkowski space

Also see

• Equivalence of Definitions of Minkowski Spacetime

• Results about Minkowski spacetime can be found here.

Source of Name

This entry was named for Hermann Minkowski.

Historical Note

Hermann Minkowski realised that the two postulates of the Special Theory of Relativity require space and time to be treated not as separate entitiies, but as a unified $4$-dimensional concept, referred to as spacetime.

Hence (Minkowski) spacetime became the frame of all later extensions of the theory of relativity.

Sources

• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): spacetime (spacetime continuum)
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): spacetime (spacetime continuum)