Definition:Minkowski Spacetime/Definition 2
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Definition
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
- 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
- 1989: Ephraim J. Borowski and Jonathan M. Borwein: Dictionary of Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): Minkowski world or Minkowskian space-time
- 2021: Richard Earl and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (6th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Minkowski space