How the standard spacetime model relates to reality

Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The standard spacetime model is a 4-dimensional geometric framework where individual histories are represented as curves, known as worldlines. The concept of "now" is not an inherent feature of the model but is instead a calculated result based on an observer's position within the spacetime continuum. Observers moving at different velocities perceive different hypersurfaces of simultaneity, leading to varied interpretations of the present. The model distinguishes events within the future and past light cones, while the experience of time is represented by the proper time along a worldline, denoted as τ.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of 4-dimensional spacetime geometry
  • Familiarity with worldlines and proper time (τ)
  • Knowledge of light cones and their significance in relativity
  • Basic concepts of Minkowski spacetime and Riemannian manifolds
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore the implications of the Stress-energy tensor in general relativity
  • Study the differences between Minkowski spacetime and Riemannian manifolds
  • Investigate the concept of simultaneity in special relativity
  • Learn about the philosophical interpretations of time in physics
USEFUL FOR

Physicists, students of relativity, and anyone interested in the philosophical implications of spacetime and the nature of time perception.

  • #31
name123 said:
Are you suggesting that in the block universe interpretation of the mathematics, that there is a distinction between what I was experiencing while you were experiencing what you were experiencing and simultaneity? Such that event A being simultaneous to event B does not imply that a witness of event A, located at the location of event A, would have of experienced event A while a witness of event B, located at the location of event B would have of experienced event B.

I don't know any way of answering that question until you can provide a definition of that word "while" that I've bolded above.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #32
Nugatory said:
name123 said:
Are you suggesting that in the block universe interpretation of the mathematics, that there is a distinction between what I was experiencing while you were experiencing what you were experiencing and simultaneity? Such that event A being simultaneous to event B does not imply that a witness of event A, located at the location of event A, would have of experienced event A while a witness of event B, located at the location of event B would have of experienced event B.

I don't know any way of answering that question until you can provide a definition of that word "while" that I've bolded above.

If you are asking for a definition of how you could tell experimentally what I was experiencing while you are experiencing then the answer is I'm not sure that one exists. But in both cases I used it, I was assuming that the experience of each person was changing, and was considering what the one person's experience was as the other was at a certain point of their changing experience, or during a certain period of their changing experience. They don't have to be experiencing clocks or if they were what they experienced the clocks doing doesn't come into it. It is related to the idea that other people are experiencing change in parallel to your experiencing change, that corresponding to your experience of change, other people are experiencing change and so on. I presume these aren't exactly alien concepts to you, so if you aren't able to understand, perhaps you could highlight what is causing you confusion? If you think you can understand, then you should be ok to answer.
 
Last edited:
  • #33
name123 said:
If you are asking for a definition of how you could tell experimentally what I was experiencing while you are experiencing then the answer is I'm not sure that one exists.

Such a definition does not exist; there is no such experimental method because, as I said, "simultaneity" is not a physical thing; it's a convention.

name123 said:
The discussion is about the interpretation, not the maths.

Then it's off topic here. We discuss physics here, not "interpretations" that make no difference to experimental predictions.

name123 said:
I don't see how having different "static perceptions" at different points along your worldline is having a changing experience

It is because the model says it is; that is how "changing experience" is modeled in SR.
 
  • #34
Since discussion of interpretations is off topic here, this thread is closed.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
2K
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
2K
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
2K
  • · Replies 40 ·
2
Replies
40
Views
3K
  • · Replies 28 ·
Replies
28
Views
2K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
2K
  • · Replies 22 ·
Replies
22
Views
2K
  • · Replies 30 ·
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
  • · Replies 83 ·
3
Replies
83
Views
7K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
1K