As a consequence of the Lorentz transformations, time and space transform into each other when changing reference frame. This calls for a unified description: Minkowski spacetime.
1
vote
2answers
77 views
Points in Spacetime
Assume there are two points in spacetime $a=(t,x,y,z)$ and $a'=(t',x',y',z')$. Let's say that the first one is in the origin of spacetime i.e. $a=(0,0,0,0)$. The point $a'$ has two possibilities
...
1
vote
4answers
109 views
How can the big bang occur mathematically?
As we know time began with the big bang. Before that there was no time, no laws, nothing. Mathematically how can an event take place when no time passes by? How did the big bang took place when there ...
3
votes
3answers
150 views
How does relativity explain gravity, without assuming gravity [duplicate]
I have seen the "objects pull down on space-time" explanations, but they assume a "pull down" force themselves. Could anyone explain the space-time explanation without assuming gravity in the first ...
3
votes
3answers
61 views
Does the expansion of the universe soon after the Big Bang affect the amount of time that light takes to reach us?
If faster than light travel is impossible, how is it that light emitted from matter so close together in the time soon after the Big Bang is only now just reaching us? I would assume that there would ...
1
vote
1answer
82 views
Killing vector argument gone awry?
What has gone wrong with this argument?!
The original question
A space-time such that $$ds^2=-dt^2+t^2dx^2$$
has Killing vectors $(0,1),(-\exp(x),\frac{\exp(x)}{t}), ...
-3
votes
0answers
27 views
Dark Energy, Space Time and Black Holes [closed]
Since space and time are both one and the same would that mean that as time passes and accumulates after the big bang that space is forced to grow? This would explain why all the galaxies are speeding ...
0
votes
1answer
44 views
Does the actual curvature of spacetime hold energy?
My understanding of GR is that curvature of spacetime reflects the density of energy-matter. Does the curvature itself have energy? Or if energy is assigned to curvature it simply reflects the energy ...
1
vote
2answers
166 views
Excluding big bang itself, does spacetime have a boundary?
My understanding of big bang cosmology and General Relativity is that both matter and spacetime emerged together (I'm not considering time zero where there was a singularity).
Does this mean that ...
6
votes
1answer
137 views
Our Universe Can't be Looped? [duplicate]
With reference to the Twin-Paradox (I am new with this), now information of who has actually aged comes from the fact that one of the twins felt some acceleration. So if universe was like a loop, and ...
0
votes
0answers
33 views
metric extension outside the light cone
Could anyone explain what "extending the solution" beyond the past light cone means? Say, for example, if I have a metric (no coordinate singularities), how can I extend it to the outside of the past ...
0
votes
2answers
59 views
Limit on velocity in Minkowski Spacetime geometry
Let A be a rocket moving with velocity v.
Then the slope of its worldline in a spacetime diagram is given by c/v.
Since it is a slope, c/v = tan(theta) for some theta > 45 and theta < 90.
Does ...
3
votes
2answers
87 views
Are all points in the universe connected?
Is it true that every point in the universe is connected or could be so theoretically? If so how is this mediated?
Is it through the quantum nature of the fabric of space or is it through the ...
3
votes
1answer
77 views
The most general form of the metric for a homogeneous, isotropic and static space-time
What is the most general form of the metric for a homogeneous, isotropic and static space-time?
For the first 2 criteria, the Robertson-Walker metric springs to mind. (I shall adopt the (-+++) ...
0
votes
1answer
66 views
Spacetime and Timelike Intervals
The difference between a “timelike” spacetime interval and a “spacelike” spacetime interval can be understood in the following way: If the spacetime interval between two events is timelike, there ...
-3
votes
0answers
41 views
effect of gravity on chemical reaction rates [closed]
a chemical reaction is done on earth in very vacuum and that chemical reaction is also done in space so that gravity higgs field not affect that reaction.
Which reaction will be fast wrt gravity and ...
0
votes
0answers
39 views
Has Time in the Universe been found to be Discrete or Continuous? [duplicate]
I have a question, has the Universe been found to come in Discrete Quantum, like Quantum Physics or is it Continuous in Nature?
I was wondering if time was like a Continuum, like the fluid in a soft ...
1
vote
0answers
64 views
Do we expect that the universe is simply-connected? [duplicate]
I heard recently that the universe is expected to be essentially flat. If this is true, I believe this means (by the 3d Poincare conjecture) that the universe cannot be simply-connected, since the ...
2
votes
1answer
106 views
Questions about angular momentum and 3-dimensional(3D) space?
Q1: As we know, in classical mechanics(CM), according to Noether's theorem, there is always one conserved quantity corresponding to one particular symmetry. Now consider a classical system in a $n$ ...
2
votes
3answers
72 views
What is the cause the light is affected by gravity? [duplicate]
I know that photons have no mass and that a photons exist only moving at the speed of light. So what is the cause that a massive astronomical object can bend a ray of light?
I have two thoughts, but I ...
1
vote
0answers
66 views
What were Feynman's objection(s) to a cubic lattice universe? [duplicate]
In this video of Feynman discussing the scientific method, starting at around eight minutes and 30 seconds, Feynman describes the proposition that space consists of a cubic lattice of points (as ...
6
votes
1answer
160 views
A Game Of The Number Of Space-Time Dimensions
Holger Bech Nielsen, one of the founders of string theory, has apparently just played some sort of game between different potential dimensions for space-time and reached the conclusion that D4 wins in ...
0
votes
1answer
119 views
Multiverse theory and infinite individuals
I read an article about possibility of existence of multiverse and came up with a conflicting view with one of the sentences written in the article which goes as follows:
"If space-time goes on ...
0
votes
1answer
113 views
Did space and time exist before the Big Bang? [duplicate]
I accept the Big Bang theory. What I can't understand is how there can be a where or when to the Big Bang if space time did not exist prior to it. Did space and time exist prior to the Big Bang?
2
votes
1answer
137 views
Space time a function of itself, objects in it, or both?
Is spacetime a function of itself, objects within it, or both? I am struggling to understand just what is spacetime without objects in it (or theoretical reference points) and thus no frame of ...
2
votes
3answers
124 views
Why are black holes special?
A black hole is where it's mass is great enough that light can't escape at a radius above the surface of the mass?
I've been told that strange things happen inside the event horizon such as ...
1
vote
0answers
46 views
When is spacetime homogenous and isotropic?
When is spacetime homogenous and isotropic?
For example, some metric $g_{\mu \nu}$ is homogeneous and isotropic. We now construct effective metric
$$n_{\mu \nu} ~\rightarrow~ g_{\mu \nu} + ...
1
vote
0answers
45 views
Naked singularity and null coordinates
I'm trying to understand the notion of a naked singularity on a more mathematical level (intuitively, it's a singularity "one can see and poke with a stick", but I'm having troubles on how to actually ...
2
votes
0answers
48 views
Naked singularity and extendable geodesics
I'm currently trying to understand the notion of a naked singularity. After consulting books by Wald and Choquet-Bruhat, it seems that for a naked singularity one must have that the causal curves can ...
1
vote
0answers
37 views
When spacetime expands to the point where galaxy clusters are not observable, will there by any interaction?
It's my understanding that in a few billion years, clusters of galaxies won't be able to directly observe one another due to the expansion of spacetime overcoming gravity between those clusters. ...
2
votes
1answer
71 views
At the smallest level, how do things move?
When we see something moving on a screen it's usually just pixels being turned off at one location and turned on at another. For example:
This would render a dot moving from A to C.
Turn on pixel ...
2
votes
4answers
203 views
Time inside a Black hole
If time stops inside a black hole, due to gravitational time dilation, how can it's life end after a very long time? If time doesn't pass inside a black hole, then an event to occur inside a black ...
0
votes
1answer
83 views
Space time curvature real or theoretical (mathematical)?
Assuming one were in a capsule of some kind, with no window or instruments, and you swung into the gravitational field of a massive object (planet). Assuming no atmosphere to provide friction, could ...
0
votes
2answers
110 views
Einstein's theory tells us that gravity is a curve in space and time but how does that causes attraction in mass? [duplicate]
The sun is incredibly massive object and it causes the space around it to bend. This causes the planets to pulled to the sun or the planets move in an elliptical path around the sun. But I don't ...
1
vote
3answers
137 views
About gravity through space time curvature
Is it possible to produce virtual gravity? I mean gravity without the help of mass by curving spacetime with other effects like fast rotating objects?
1
vote
1answer
70 views
Can the fuzzball conjecture be applied to microscopically explain the entropy of a region beyond the gravitational observer horizon?
In this article discussing this and related papers, it is explained among other things, how the neighborhood of an observer's worldline can be approximated by a region of Minkowsky spacetime.
If I ...
0
votes
2answers
77 views
If inherent randomness exist in quantum mechanics, what then of eternalism implied by relativity?
I am nothing but a curious layman so don't go too technical on me.
First of all, I am well aware that a lot of people consider the question of determinism vs indeterminism to be unsolved and others ...
0
votes
2answers
124 views
If the universe is 3D, how is space-time like a “fabric”? [duplicate]
I have been taught that space-time should be viewed as a fabric and that objects with a large gravitational influence indent that fabric. My question is, if the singularity of a black-hole punctures ...
4
votes
2answers
136 views
How do Doppler Effect and Time Dilation differ?
Above, I have drawn a diagram showing Doppler Effect (here we are using space-time but in a non-relativistic sense. Time and distance are the same for A and B).
Edit: I am adding a relativistic ...
1
vote
2answers
137 views
How to find a curvature of the space-time by having $g^{\alpha \beta}$ in the following case without cumbersome calculations?
The metric tensor for Fock-Lorentz space-time,
$$
\mathbf r_{||}{'} = \frac{\gamma (u)(\mathbf r_{||} - \mathbf u t)}{\lambda \gamma (u) (\mathbf u \cdot \mathbf r) + \lambda c^{2} (1 - \gamma (u))t + ...
0
votes
0answers
159 views
Spacetime around a Black Hole
If we consider the sun, then space-time is curve around it. My question is that what is the kind of curvature of space and time around the black hole. Is that space and time more curved around the ...
1
vote
1answer
86 views
How much time has passed for Voyager I since it left the Earth, 34 years ago?
34 years have passed since Voyager I took off and it's just crossing the solar system, being approximately at 16.4 light-hours away. How much time have passed for itself, though?
0
votes
2answers
87 views
What is the link between the metric signature of spacetime and fundamental field equations?
The signature of Minkowski spacetime is 2, as is explained here: metric signature explanation. The signature is related to the form the fundamental equations take, but I'm not totally clear on the ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
Could light travel more slowly than the “universal speed limit”? Could this imply quantization of spacetime?
One description of relativistic effects that I've heard/read goes something like this:
Everything moves through spacetime at a constant speed. An object's direction of travel through spacetime can ...
4
votes
1answer
141 views
Does the curvature of space-time cause objects to look smaller than they really are?
What's the difference between looking at a star from a black hole and looking at it from empty space?
My guess is that the curvature of space-time distorts the wavelength of light thus changing the ...
0
votes
1answer
63 views
What is the age of universe? [closed]
As we know at the time of big bang as mentioned by the scientist the universe expanded faster than the speed of light. So does it mean that at that time all the particles present travelled in the time ...
0
votes
1answer
50 views
How much energy is needed to curve the space so the Sun will come 1 meter closer to our planet? [closed]
How much energy/work will it take if our planet is:
5.9736×1024 kg
or
3.0×10−6 Suns
to move Sun and Earth 1 meter closer ...
1
vote
2answers
72 views
Why can certain functions be absorbed into the Schwarzschild metric, while others can't?
Another question about the Schwarzschild solution of General Relativity:
In the derivation (shown below) of the Schwarzschild metric from the vacuum Einstein Equation, at the step marked "HERE," we ...
-1
votes
1answer
103 views
How do photons experience time? [duplicate]
I know that as velocity approaches the speed of light the time dilation shoots to infinity as shown below.
1)So I want to know how time is perceived from the point of view of the photon?
2)Since ...
-2
votes
1answer
63 views
How would time duration and space distance change when we move in the speed of light? [closed]
It is possible to figure out how time duration and space distance change when we are close to the speed of light - but I am not sure what happens to them if we travel in the speed of light.
1
vote
0answers
110 views
What happened in Philadelphia Experiment(1943 October 28)? [closed]
The Philadelphia Experiment was an alleged naval military experiment reported to have been carried out at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA sometime around October 28, ...
