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Spacetime Algebra
In mathematical physics, spacetime algebra (STA) is the application of Clifford algebra Cl1,3(R), or equivalently the geometric algebra to physics. Spacetime algebra provides a "unified, coordinate-free formulation for all of special relativity, relativistic physics, including the Dirac equation, Maxwell's equations, Maxwell equation and General Relativity" and "reduces the mathematical divide between classical physics, classical, quantum mechanics, quantum and Relativistic quantum mechanics, relativistic physics." Spacetime algebra is a vector space that allows not only Vector (geometry), vectors, but also bivectors (directed quantities describing rotations associated with rotations or particular planes, such as areas, or rotations) or Blade (geometry), blades (quantities associated with particular hyper-volumes) to be combined, as well as rotation, rotated, Reflection (mathematics), reflected, or Lorentz boosted. It is also the natural parent algebra of spinors in special relati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Physics
Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the development of mathematical methods suitable for such applications and for the formulation of physical theories". An alternative definition would also include those mathematics that are inspired by physics, known as physical mathematics. Scope There are several distinct branches of mathematical physics, and these roughly correspond to particular historical parts of our world. Classical mechanics Applying the techniques of mathematical physics to classical mechanics typically involves the rigorous, abstract, and advanced reformulation of Newtonian mechanics in terms of Lagrangian mechanics and Hamiltonian mechanics (including both approaches in the presence of constraints). Both formulations are embodied in analytical mechanics and lead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reflection (mathematics)
In mathematics, a reflection (also spelled reflexion) is a mapping from a Euclidean space to itself that is an isometry with a hyperplane as the set of fixed points; this set is called the axis (in dimension 2) or plane (in dimension 3) of reflection. The image of a figure by a reflection is its mirror image in the axis or plane of reflection. For example the mirror image of the small Latin letter p for a reflection with respect to a vertical axis (a ''vertical reflection'') would look like q. Its image by reflection in a horizontal axis (a ''horizontal reflection'') would look like b. A reflection is an involution: when applied twice in succession, every point returns to its original location, and every geometrical object is restored to its original state. The term ''reflection'' is sometimes used for a larger class of mappings from a Euclidean space to itself, namely the non-identity isometries that are involutions. The set of fixed points (the "mirror") of such an isome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multivector
In multilinear algebra, a multivector, sometimes called Clifford number or multor, is an element of the exterior algebra of a vector space . This algebra is graded, associative and alternating, and consists of linear combinations of simple -vectors (also known as decomposable -vectors or -blades) of the form : v_1\wedge\cdots\wedge v_k, where v_1, \ldots, v_k are in . A -vector is such a linear combination that is ''homogeneous'' of degree (all terms are -blades for the same ). Depending on the authors, a "multivector" may be either a -vector or any element of the exterior algebra (any linear combination of -blades with potentially differing values of ). In differential geometry, a -vector is usually a vector in the exterior algebra of the tangent vector space of a smooth manifold; that is, it is an antisymmetric tensor obtained by taking linear combinations of the exterior product of tangent vectors, for some integer . A differential -form is a -vector in the exterior al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minkowski Metric
In physics, Minkowski space (or Minkowski spacetime) () is the main mathematical description of spacetime in the absence of general_relativity, gravitation. It combines inertial space and time manifolds into a four-dimensional model. The model helps show how a spacetime interval between any two Event (relativity), events is independent of the inertial frame of reference in which they are recorded. Mathematician Hermann Minkowski developed it from the work of Hendrik Lorentz, Henri Poincaré, and others said it "was grown on experimental physical grounds". Minkowski space is closely associated with Albert Einstein, Einstein's theories of special relativity and general relativity and is the most common mathematical structure by which special relativity is formalized. While the individual components in Euclidean space and time might differ due to length contraction and time dilation, in Minkowski spacetime, all frames of reference will agree on the total interval in spacetime betw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthonormal Basis
In mathematics, particularly linear algebra, an orthonormal basis for an inner product space V with finite Dimension (linear algebra), dimension is a Basis (linear algebra), basis for V whose vectors are orthonormal, that is, they are all unit vectors and Orthogonality_(mathematics), orthogonal to each other. For example, the standard basis for a Euclidean space \R^n is an orthonormal basis, where the relevant inner product is the dot product of vectors. The Image (mathematics), image of the standard basis under a Rotation (mathematics), rotation or Reflection (mathematics), reflection (or any orthogonal transformation) is also orthonormal, and every orthonormal basis for \R^n arises in this fashion. An orthonormal basis can be derived from an orthogonal basis via Normalize (linear algebra), normalization. The choice of an origin (mathematics), origin and an orthonormal basis forms a coordinate frame known as an ''orthonormal frame''. For a general inner product space V, an orthono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dot Product
In mathematics, the dot product or scalar productThe term ''scalar product'' means literally "product with a Scalar (mathematics), scalar as a result". It is also used for other symmetric bilinear forms, for example in a pseudo-Euclidean space. Not to be confused with scalar multiplication. is an algebraic operation that takes two equal-length sequences of numbers (usually coordinate vectors), and returns a single number. In Euclidean geometry, the dot product of the Cartesian coordinates of two Euclidean vector, vectors is widely used. It is often called the inner product (or rarely the projection product) of Euclidean space, even though it is not the only inner product that can be defined on Euclidean space (see ''Inner product space'' for more). It should not be confused with the cross product. Algebraically, the dot product is the sum of the Product (mathematics), products of the corresponding entries of the two sequences of numbers. Geometrically, it is the product of the Euc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geometric Algebra
In mathematics, a geometric algebra (also known as a Clifford algebra) is an algebra that can represent and manipulate geometrical objects such as vectors. Geometric algebra is built out of two fundamental operations, addition and the geometric product. Multiplication of vectors results in higher-dimensional objects called multivectors. Compared to other formalisms for manipulating geometric objects, geometric algebra is noteworthy for supporting vector division (though generally not by all elements) and addition of objects of different dimensions. The geometric product was first briefly mentioned by Hermann Grassmann, who was chiefly interested in developing the closely related exterior algebra. In 1878, William Kingdon Clifford greatly expanded on Grassmann's work to form what are now usually called Clifford algebras in his honor (although Clifford himself chose to call them "geometric algebras"). Clifford defined the Clifford algebra and its product as a unification of the Gras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paravector
The name paravector is used for the combination of a scalar and a vector in any Clifford algebra, known as geometric algebra among physicists. This name was given by J. G. Maks in a doctoral dissertation at Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands, in 1989. The complete algebra of paravectors along with corresponding higher grade generalizations, all in the context of the Euclidean space of three dimensions, is an alternative approach to the spacetime algebra (STA) introduced by David Hestenes. This alternative algebra is called algebra of physical space (APS). Fundamental axiom For Euclidean spaces, the fundamental axiom indicates that the product of a vector with itself is the scalar value of the length squared (positive) : \mathbf \mathbf = \mathbf\cdot \mathbf Writing : \mathbf = \mathbf + \mathbf, and introducing this into the expression of the fundamental axiom : (\mathbf + \mathbf)^2 = \mathbf \mathbf + \mathbf \mathbf + \mathbf \mathbf + \mathbf \mathbf, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algebra Of Physical Space
Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic operations other than the standard arithmetic operations, such as addition and multiplication. Elementary algebra is the main form of algebra taught in schools. It examines mathematical statements using variables for unspecified values and seeks to determine for which values the statements are true. To do so, it uses different methods of transforming equations to isolate variables. Linear algebra is a closely related field that investigates linear equations and combinations of them called '' systems of linear equations''. It provides methods to find the values that solve all equations in the system at the same time, and to study the set of these solutions. Abstract algebra studies algebraic structures, which consist of a set of mathemat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Complex Number
In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the form a + bi, where and are real numbers. Because no real number satisfies the above equation, was called an imaginary number by René Descartes. For the complex number is called the , and is called the . The set of complex numbers is denoted by either of the symbols \mathbb C or . Despite the historical nomenclature, "imaginary" complex numbers have a mathematical existence as firm as that of the real numbers, and they are fundamental tools in the scientific description of the natural world. Complex numbers allow solutions to all polynomial equations, even those that have no solutions in real numbers. More precisely, the fundamental theorem of algebra asserts that every non-constant polynomial equation with real or complex coefficie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scalar (mathematics)
A scalar is an element of a field which is used to define a ''vector space''. In linear algebra, real numbers or generally elements of a field are called scalars and relate to vectors in an associated vector space through the operation of scalar multiplication (defined in the vector space), in which a vector can be multiplied by a scalar in the defined way to produce another vector. Generally speaking, a vector space may be defined by using any field instead of real numbers (such as complex numbers). Then scalars of that vector space will be elements of the associated field (such as complex numbers). A scalar product operation – not to be confused with scalar multiplication – may be defined on a vector space, allowing two vectors to be multiplied in the defined way to produce a scalar. A vector space equipped with a scalar product is called an inner product space. A quantity described by multiple scalars, such as having both direction and magnitude, is called a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Real Number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one- dimensional quantity such as a duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every real number can be almost uniquely represented by an infinite decimal expansion. The real numbers are fundamental in calculus (and in many other branches of mathematics), in particular by their role in the classical definitions of limits, continuity and derivatives. The set of real numbers, sometimes called "the reals", is traditionally denoted by a bold , often using blackboard bold, . The adjective ''real'', used in the 17th century by René Descartes, distinguishes real numbers from imaginary numbers such as the square roots of . The real numbers include the rational numbers, such as the integer and the fraction . The rest of the real numbers are called irrational numbers. Some irrational numbers (as well as all the rationals) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
