Minkowski Spacetime

Minkowski spacetime is a mathematical model that combines the three dimensions of inertial space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional structure, developed by the mathematician Hermann Minkowski building on the earlier physical work of Hendrik Lorentz, Henri Poincare and others, and described by Minkowski as having been grown on experimental physical grounds. It is the most common mathematical structure used to formalize Einstein's special relativity, and although individual measurements of space and time intervals can differ between inertial frames because of length contraction and time dilation, all frames of reference agree on the total spacetime interval between two events. Minkowski spacetime treats time differently from the three spatial dimensions, using a pseudo-Euclidean metric equipped with an isotropic quadratic form called the spacetime interval; unlike in Euclidean space, where the distance between distinct points is always positive, the interval between two distinct events in Minkowski spacetime can be zero.