Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World

All physicists would agree that one of the most fundamental problems of the 21st century physics is the dimensionality of the world. In the four-dimensional world of Minkowski (or Minkowski spacetime) the most challenging problem is the nature of the temporal dimension. In Minkowski spacetime it is merely one of the four dimensions, which means that it is entirely given like the other three spacial dimensions. If the temporal dimension were not given in its entirety and only one constantly changing moment of it existed, Minkowski spacetime would be reduced to the ordinary three-dimensional space.
But if the physical world, represented by Minkowski spacetime, is indeed four-dimensional with time being the fourth dimension, then such a world is drastically different from its image based on our perceptions. Minkowski four-dimensional world is a block Universe, a frozen world in which nothing happens since all moments of time are given 'at once', which means that physical bodies are four-dimensional worldtubes containing the whole histories in time of the three-dimensional bodies of our everyday experience. The implications of a real Minkowski world for physics itself and especially for our world view are enormous.
The main focus of this volume is the question: is spacetime nothing more than a mathematical space (which describes the evolution in time of the ordinary three-dimensional world) or is it a mathematical model of a real four-dimensional world with time entirely given as the fourth dimension? It contains fourteen invited papers which either directly address the main question of the nature of spacetime or explore issues related to it.

List of contents

The Meaning of Dimensions.- Some Remarks on the Space-Time of Newton and Einstein.- The Adventures of Space-Time.- Physics in the Real Universe: Time and Space-Time.- The Real World and Space-Time.- Four-dimensional Reality and Determinism; an Answer to Stein.- Relativity, Dimensionality, and Existence.- Canonical Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World.- Relativity Theory Does Not Imply that the Future Already Exists: A Counterexample.- Absolute Being versus Relative Becoming.- An Argument for 4D Block World from a Geometric Interpretation of Nonrelativistic Quantum Mechanics.- Space-time: Arena or Reality?.- Dynamical Emergence of Instantaneous 3-Spaces in a Class of Models of General Relativity.- Lorentzian Space-Times from Parabolic and Elliptic Systems of PDEs.

About the author

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).

Summary

All physicists would agree that one of the most fundamental problems of the 21st century physics is the dimensionality of the world. In the four-dimensional world of Minkowski (or Minkowski spacetime) the most challenging problem is the nature of the temporal dimension. In Minkowski spacetime it is merely one of the four dimensions, which means that it is entirely given like the other three spacial dimensions. If the temporal dimension were not given in its entirety and only one constantly changing moment of it existed, Minkowski spacetime would be reduced to the ordinary three-dimensional space.
But if the physical world, represented by Minkowski spacetime, is indeed four-dimensional with time being the fourth dimension, then such a world is drastically different from its image based on our perceptions. Minkowski four-dimensional world is a block Universe, a frozen world in which nothing happens since all moments of time are given ‘at once', which means that physical bodies are four-dimensional worldtubes containing the whole histories in time of the three-dimensional bodies of our everyday experience. The implications of a real Minkowski world for physics itself and especially for our world view are enormous.
The main focus of this volume is the question: is spacetime nothing more than a mathematical space (which describes the evolution in time of the ordinary three-dimensional world) or is it a mathematical model of a real four-dimensional world with time entirely given as the fourth dimension? It contains fourteen invited papers which either directly address the main question of the nature of spacetime or explore issues related to it.

Additional text

Aus den Rezensionen:

"… Dem Physiker und Philosophen Vesselin Petkov … ist es wie kaum einem anderen zu verdanken, die Raumzeit-Problematik in der Diskussion zu halten. Passend zum hundertjährigen Jubiläum der Minkowski-Rede hat er einen Band herausgegeben, in dem 18 hochkarätige Autoren das Problem von der ‘Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World’ aus verschiedenen Perspektiven angehen. Wer sich tiefer in die Thematik einlesen möchte, kommt an diesem Buch nicht vorbei …" (in: Das Science Fiction Jahr 2008, 2008, S. 780 f.)

Report

Aus den Rezensionen:

"... Dem Physiker und Philosophen Vesselin Petkov ... ist es wie kaum einem anderen zu verdanken, die Raumzeit-Problematik in der Diskussion zu halten. Passend zum hundertjährigen Jubiläum der Minkowski-Rede hat er einen Band herausgegeben, in dem 18 hochkarätige Autoren das Problem von der 'Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World' aus verschiedenen Perspektiven angehen. Wer sich tiefer in die Thematik einlesen möchte, kommt an diesem Buch nicht vorbei ..." (in: Das Science Fiction Jahr 2008, 2008, S. 780 f.)

Product details

• Assisted by: Vesseli Petkov (Editor), Vesselin Petkov (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 25.06.2009
• EAN: 9781402063176
• ISBN: 978-1-4020-6317-6
• No. of pages: 277
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 22 mm x 240 mm
• Weight: 594 g
• Illustrations: XVI, 277 p.
• Series: Fundamental Theories of Physics; Fundamental Theories of Physic; Fundamental Theories of Physics; Fundamental Theories of Physic
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Physics, astronomy > General, dictionaries