Minkowski Spacetime: A Hundred Years Later

ISBN-13: 9789400731844 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 326 str.

Vesselin Petkov

Opis

This volume is dedicated to the one hundredth anniversary of the publication of Hermann Minkowski s paper Raum und Zeit in 1909 1]. The paper presents the textofthetalkMinkowskigaveatthe80thMeetingoftheGermanNaturalScientists and Physicians in Cologne on September 21, 1908. Minkowski s work on the spacetime representation of special relativity had a huge impact on the twentieth century physics, which can be best expressed by merely stating what is undeniable that modern physics would be impossible wi- out the notion of spacetime. It is suf cient to mention as an example only the fact that general relativity would be impossible without this notion; Einstein succeeded to identifygravitywith the curvatureofspacetime onlywhen he overcamehis initial hostile reactionto Minkowski sfour-dimensionalrepresentationof special relativity and adopted spacetime as the correct relativistic picture of the world. While there exists an unanimous consensus on the mathematical signi cance of spacetime for theoretical physics, for a hundred years there has been no consensus on the nature of spacetime itself. The rst sign of this continuing controversy was Sommerfeld s remark in his notes on Minkowski s article 2]: What will be the epistemologicalattitudetowardsMinkowski sconceptionofthetime-spaceproblem is another question, but, as it seems to me, a question which does not essentially touch his physics ."

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"This book celebrates the 100th anniversary of Minkowski's work on four-dimensional spacetime ... . In this work Minkowski introduces spacetime as a new fundamental concept from which space and time can be derived. ... All in all this is a very impressive work, not only because of the groundbreaking new ideas and the great impact it has had. It is also nicely written and the language is a very pleasant contrast to the dry style most publications use nowadays." (Michael Keyl, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1220, 2011)

"Vesselin Petkov, the editor of the volume, has succeeded in assembling a number of interesting, enlightening, and thought-provoking papers, all of them authored by competent experts in their fields, which illuminate various aspects of the concept of Minkowski spacetime. The collection transcends the disciplinary boundaries of theoretical physics, history of science, and philosophical reflection in a most productive way." (Tilman Sauer, Metascience, February, 2013)

Spis treści

Preface Hermann Minkowski: Space and Time (English translation by Dennis Lehmkuhl) Hermann Minkowski: Raum und Zeit (original German text) PART I: The Impact of Minkowski Spacetime on the Twentieth Century Physics from a Historical Perspective Hermann Minkowski, Relativity and the Axiomatic Approach to Physics; Leo Corry, Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science, Tel-Aviv University Minkowski’s Modern World; Scott Walter, University of Nancy and H. Poincare Archives PART II: Implications of Minkowski Spacetime for Theoretical Physics Hermann Minkowski and Special Relativity; Graham Hall, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Aberdeen The Rich Structure of Minkowski Space; Domenico Giulini, Institute of Physics, University of Freiburg Minkowski Spacetime and Quantum Mechanics; William G. Unruh, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia Modern Spacetime and Undecidability; Rodolfo Gambini, Institute of Physics, Montevideo University, and Jorge Pullin, Department of Physics, Louisiana State University Quantum Spacetimes: Beyond the Continuum of Minkowski and Einstein; Abhay Ashtekar, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University Spacetime Extensions in Quantum Gravity; Martin Bojowald, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry, The Pennsylvania State University PART III: Conceptual and Philosophical Issues of Minkowski Spacetime The Adolescence of Relativity: Einstein, Minkowski, and the Philosophy of Space and Time; Dennis Dieks, Department of History and Foundations of Science, Utrecht University Hermann Minkowski: From Geometry of Numbers to Physical Geometry; Yvon Gauthier, Department of Philosophy, University of Montreal The Mystical Formula and the Mystery of Khronos; Orfeu Bertolami, Dpto. Física, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal Physical Laws and Worldlines in Minkowski Spacetime; Vesselin Petkov, Science College, Concordia University Time as an Illusion; Paul S. Wesson, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo Consequences of Minkowski's Unification of Space and Time for a Philosophy of Nature; Herbert Pietschmann, Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Vienna

O autorze

Presently: Assistant Professor, Science College, Concordia University (in fact, I am associated with three departments - Liberal Arts College, Philosophy Department, and Science College)
1984 -1989: Adjunct Professor, Philosophy Department, Sofia University
1986 -1989: Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Doctoral degrees in theoretical physics (1997, Concordia University) and philosophy of science (1988, Institute of Philosophy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences).

Blurb

This volume is dedicated to the one hundredth anniversary of the publication of Hermann Minkowski's paper "Space and Time" in 1909. His work on the spacetime representation of special relativity had a huge impact on the twentieth century physics to the extent that modern physics would be impossible without the notion of spacetime. While there is consensus on the mathematical significance of spacetime in theoretical physics, for a hundred years there has been no consensus on the nature of spacetime itself. We owe Minkowski a clear answer to the question of the nature of spacetime -- whether it is only a mathematical space or represents a real four-dimensional world. A century after its publication the original Minkowski paper still represents an enrichment to the physicists, especially the relativists, who read it with the intent to fully investigate the depth of Minkowski's ideas on space and time and the physical meaning of special relativity.

The volume begins with an excellent retranslation of Minkowski's paper by Dennis Lehmkuhl, accompanied by the original German version of the article. The fourteen contributions are divided into three parts entitled "The Impact of Minkowski Spacetime on the Twentieth Century Physics from a Historical Perspective", "Implications of Minkowski Spacetime for Theoretical Physics", and "Conceptual and Philosophical Issues of Minkowski Spacetime."