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Curved Space
Curved space often refers to a spatial geometry which is not "flat", where a '' flat space'' has zero curvature, as described by Euclidean geometry. Curved spaces can generally be described by Riemannian geometry, though some simple cases can be described in other ways. Curved spaces play an essential role in general relativity, where gravity is often visualized as '' curved spacetime''. The Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric is a curved metric which forms the current foundation for the description of the expansion of the universe and the shape of the universe. The fact that photons have no mass yet are distorted by gravity, means that the explanation would have to be something besides photonic mass. Hence, the belief that large bodies curve space and so light, traveling on the curved space will, appear as being subject to gravity. It is not, but it is subject to the curvature of space. Simple two-dimensional example A very familiar example of a curved space i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Spatial Geometry
In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values (''coordinates'') are required to determine the position of a point. Most commonly, it is the three-dimensional Euclidean space, that is, the Euclidean space of dimension three, which models physical space. More general three-dimensional spaces are called ''3-manifolds''. The term may also refer colloquially to a subset of space, a ''three-dimensional region'' (or 3D domain), a ''solid figure''. Technically, a tuple of numbers can be understood as the Cartesian coordinates of a location in a -dimensional Euclidean space. The set of these -tuples is commonly denoted \R^n, and can be identified to the pair formed by a -dimensional Euclidean space and a Cartesian coordinate system. When , this space is called the three-dimensional Euclidean space (or simply "Euclidean space" when the context is clear). In classical physics, it serves as a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Isotropic
In physics and geometry, isotropy () is uniformity in all orientations. Precise definitions depend on the subject area. Exceptions, or inequalities, are frequently indicated by the prefix ' or ', hence '' anisotropy''. ''Anisotropy'' is also used to describe situations where properties vary systematically, dependent on direction. Isotropic radiation has the same intensity regardless of the direction of measurement, and an isotropic field exerts the same action regardless of how the test particle is oriented. Mathematics Within mathematics, ''isotropy'' has a few different meanings: ; Isotropic manifolds: A manifold is isotropic if the geometry on the manifold is the same regardless of direction. A similar concept is homogeneity. ; Isotropic quadratic form: A quadratic form ''q'' is said to be isotropic if there is a non-zero vector ''v'' such that ; such a ''v'' is an isotropic vector or null vector. In complex geometry, a line through the origin in the direction of an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Physical Cosmology
Physical cosmology is a branch of cosmology concerned with the study of cosmological models. A cosmological model, or simply cosmology, provides a description of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and allows study of fundamental questions about its Cosmogony, origin, structure, Chronology of the universe, evolution, and ultimate fate.For an overview, see Cosmology as a science originated with the Copernican principle, which implies that astronomical object, celestial bodies obey identical physical laws to those on Earth, and Newtonian mechanics, which first allowed those physical laws to be understood. Physical cosmology, as it is now understood, began in 1915 with the development of Albert Einstein's general relativity, general theory of relativity, followed by major observational discoveries in the 1920s: first, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe contains a huge number of external Galaxy, galaxies beyond the Milky Way; then, work by Vesto Sliph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Jeffrey Weeks (mathematician)
Jeffrey Renwick Weeks (born December 10, 1956) is an American mathematician, a geometric topologist and cosmologist. Weeks is a 1999 MacArthur Fellow. Biography Weeks received his BA from Dartmouth College in 1978, and his PhD in mathematics from Princeton University in 1985, under the supervision of William Thurston. Since then he has taught at Stockton State College, Ithaca College, and Middlebury College, but has spent much of his time as a free-lance mathematician. Research Weeks' research contributions have mainly been in the field of 3-manifolds and physical cosmology. The Weeks manifold, discovered in 1985 by Weeks, is the hyperbolic 3-manifold with the minimum possible volume. Weeks has written various computer programs to assist in mathematical research and mathematical visualization. His SnapPea program is used to study hyperbolic 3-manifolds, while he has also developed interactive software to introduce these ideas to middle-school, high-school, and college st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Non-positive Curvature
In mathematics, spaces of non-positive curvature occur in many contexts and form a generalization of hyperbolic geometry. In the category of Riemannian manifolds, one can consider the sectional curvature of the manifold and require that this curvature be everywhere less than or equal to zero. The notion of curvature extends to the category of geodesic metric spaces, where one can use comparison triangles to quantify the curvature of a space; in this context, non-positively curved spaces are known as (locally) CAT(0) spaces. Riemann Surfaces If S is a closed, orientable Riemann surface then it follows from the Uniformization theorem that S may be endowed with a complete Riemannian metric with constant Gaussian curvature of either 0, 1 or -1. As a result of the Gauss–Bonnet theorem one can determine that the surfaces which have a Riemannian metric of constant curvature 0 -1 i.e. Riemann surfaces with a complete, Riemannian metric of non-positive constant curvature, are exa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
CAT(k) Space
In mathematics, a \mathbf(k) space, where k is a real number, is a specific type of metric space. Intuitively, triangles in a \operatorname(k) space (with k0. Let (X,d) be a geodesic metric space, i.e. a metric space for which every two points x,y\in X can be joined by a geodesic segment, an arc length parametrized continuous curve \gamma\colon ,b\to X,\ \gamma(a) = x,\ \gamma(b) = y, whose length :L(\gamma) = \sup \left\ is precisely d(x,y). Let \Delta be a triangle in X with geodesic segments as its sides. \Delta is said to satisfy the \mathbf(k) inequality if there is a comparison triangle \Delta' in the model space M_k, with sides of the same length as the sides of \Delta, such that distances between points on \Delta are less than or equal to the distances between corresponding points on \Delta'. The geodesic metric space (X,d) is said to be a \mathbf(k) space if every geodesic triangle \Delta in X with perimeter less than 2D_k satisfies the \operatorname(k) inequality. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hyperbolic Geometry
In mathematics, hyperbolic geometry (also called Lobachevskian geometry or János Bolyai, Bolyai–Nikolai Lobachevsky, Lobachevskian geometry) is a non-Euclidean geometry. The parallel postulate of Euclidean geometry is replaced with: :For any given line ''R'' and point ''P'' not on ''R'', in the plane containing both line ''R'' and point ''P'' there are at least two distinct lines through ''P'' that do not intersect ''R''. (Compare the above with Playfair's axiom, the modern version of Euclid's parallel postulate.) The hyperbolic plane is a plane (mathematics), plane where every point is a saddle point. Hyperbolic plane geometry is also the geometry of pseudosphere, pseudospherical surfaces, surfaces with a constant negative Gaussian curvature. Saddle surfaces have negative Gaussian curvature in at least some regions, where they local property, locally resemble the hyperbolic plane. The hyperboloid model of hyperbolic geometry provides a representation of event (relativity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Elliptic Geometry
Elliptic geometry is an example of a geometry in which Euclid's parallel postulate does not hold. Instead, as in spherical geometry, there are no parallel lines since any two lines must intersect. However, unlike in spherical geometry, two lines are usually assumed to intersect at a single point (rather than two). Because of this, the elliptic geometry described in this article is sometimes referred to as ''single elliptic geometry'' whereas spherical geometry is sometimes referred to as ''double elliptic geometry''. The appearance of this geometry in the nineteenth century stimulated the development of non-Euclidean geometry generally, including hyperbolic geometry. Elliptic geometry has a variety of properties that differ from those of classical Euclidean plane geometry. For example, the sum of the interior angles of any triangle is always greater than 180°. Definitions Elliptic geometry may be derived from spherical geometry by identifying antipodal points of the sphere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Scalar Curvature
In the mathematical field of Riemannian geometry, the scalar curvature (or the Ricci scalar) is a measure of the curvature of a Riemannian manifold. To each point on a Riemannian manifold, it assigns a single real number determined by the geometry of the metric near that point. It is defined by a complicated explicit formula in terms of partial derivatives of the metric components, although it is also characterized by the volume of infinitesimally small geodesic balls. In the context of the differential geometry of surfaces, the scalar curvature is twice the Gaussian curvature, and completely characterizes the curvature of a surface. In higher dimensions, however, the scalar curvature only represents one particular part of the Riemann curvature tensor. The definition of scalar curvature via partial derivatives is also valid in the more general setting of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds. This is significant in general relativity, where scalar curvature of a Lorentzian metric is one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ricci Curvature
In differential geometry, the Ricci curvature tensor, named after Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, is a geometric object which is determined by a choice of Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian metric on a manifold. It can be considered, broadly, as a measure of the degree to which the geometry of a given metric tensor differs locally from that of ordinary Euclidean space or pseudo-Euclidean space. The Ricci tensor can be characterized by measurement of how a shape is deformed as one moves along geodesics in the space. In general relativity, which involves the pseudo-Riemannian setting, this is reflected by the presence of the Ricci tensor in the Raychaudhuri equation. Partly for this reason, the Einstein field equations propose that spacetime can be described by a pseudo-Riemannian metric, with a strikingly simple relationship between the Ricci tensor and the matter content of the universe. Like the metric tensor, the Ricci tensor assigns to each tangent space of the manifold a symmetric bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Weyl Tensor
In differential geometry, the Weyl curvature tensor, named after Hermann Weyl, is a measure of the curvature of spacetime or, more generally, a pseudo-Riemannian manifold. Like the Riemann curvature tensor, the Weyl tensor expresses the tidal force that a body feels when moving along a geodesic. The Weyl tensor differs from the Riemann curvature tensor in that it does not convey information on how the volume of the body changes, but rather only how the shape of the body is distorted by the tidal force. The Ricci curvature, or trace component of the Riemann tensor contains precisely the information about how volumes change in the presence of tidal forces, so the Weyl tensor is the traceless component of the Riemann tensor. This tensor has the same symmetries as the Riemann tensor, but satisfies the extra condition that it is trace-free: metric contraction on any pair of indices yields zero. It is obtained from the Riemann tensor by subtracting a tensor that is a linear expres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Conformally Flat
A (pseudo-)Riemannian manifold is conformally flat if each point has a neighborhood that can be mapped to flat space by a conformal transformation. In practice, the metric g of the manifold M has to be conformal to the flat metric \eta, i.e., the geodesics maintain in all points of M the angles by moving from one to the other, as well as keeping the null geodesics unchanged, that means there exists a function \lambda(x) such that g(x) = \lambda^2(x)\, \eta, where \lambda(x) is known as the conformal factor and x is a point on the manifold. More formally, let (M,g) be a pseudo-Riemannian manifold. Then (M,g) is conformally flat if for each point x in M, there exists a neighborhood U of x and a smooth function f defined on U such that (U,e^ g) is flat (i.e. the curvature of e^ g vanishes on U). The function f need not be defined on all of M. Some authors use the definition of locally conformally flat when referred to just some point x on M and reserve the definition of ''conformal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
