New Foundations for Physical Geometry –or– How to Temporalize.pptVIP

Wald on “Mixed” Lines ”The length of curves which change from timelike to spacelike is not defined” (General Relativity, p. 44). So let’s eliminate those curves: the Linear Structure of a Relativistic space-time is not the same as that of any Euclidean space. Physics If the fundamental sub-metrical geometrical structure is the line, then when we turn to physics, we should ask: what physical feature of the universe could generate physical lines? More generally, what physical feature of the universe naturally generates a linear order among the points of space-time? Time Intuitively, time provides a directed linear ordering of events. It is the natural place to look for a source of physical lines. Newtonian and Neo-Newtonian Space-Time In Newtonian or Neo-Newtonian space-time, if one asks for a maximal set of events which is linearly ordered in time, one gets a set of points, one at each instant of time. This set of points will not typically look like any sort of line: Newtonian Space-Time time Relativistic Space-Time (Globally Hyperbolic) In a Relativistic space-time (Lorentzian pseudo-metric) with no closed time-like curves (no “time travel”), if one asks for a maximal set of events which is linearly ordered in time, what one gets is a continuous time-like or null curve. The light-cone structure forces such a set to intuitively form a line. Relativistic Space-Time From Sean Carroll’s Book Only Trivial Geometry on a Spacelike Hypersurface If we only admit timelike-or-null lines, then when we restrict the geometry to a space-like hypersurface we get no lines at all: there is no intrinsic spatial geometry. Other slices, though, have the expected Relativistic structure. Linear Structure of Hyperplanes Relativistic Structure is Built Into the Linear Structure If we follow this recipe, the light-cone structure of a space-time is already definable from its Linear Structure, without use of any metrical notions. In particular, a closed line with endpoints p and q is a s