Related papers: The Rich Structure of Minkowski Space
Lecture notes from the mini-course "Topics in Lorentz Geometry" taught at the University of S\~{a}o Paulo, in March/2019. The text has three parts: (i) an overall view of linear algebra in the pseudo-Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^n_\nu$, with…
Given a constant vector field $Z$ in Minkowski space, a timelike surface is said to have a canonical null direction with respect to $Z$ if the projection of $Z$ on the tangent space of the surface gives a lightlike vector field. In this…
Assuming minimal regularity assumptions on the data, we revisit the classical problem of finding isometric immersions into the Minkowski spacetime for hypersurfaces of a Lorentzian manifold. Our approach encompasses metrics having Sobolev…
The complete classification of classical $r$-matrices generating quantum deformations of the (3+1)-dimensional (A)dS and Poincar\'e groups such that their Lorentz sector is a quantum subgroup is presented. It is found that there exists…
We consider a (4+d)-dimensional spacetime broken up into a (4-n)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime (where n goes from 1 to 3) and a compact (n+d)-dimensional manifold. At the present time the n compactification radii are of the order of the…
The properties of null geodesic congruences (NGCs) in Lorentzian manifolds are a topic of considerable importance. More specifically NGCs with the special property of being shear-free or asymptotically shear-free (as either infinity or a…
In a 1967 paper, Zeeman proposed a new topology for Minkowski spacetime, physically motivated but much more complicated than the standard one. Here a detailed study is given of some properties of the Zeeman topology which had not been…
We compactify the ten-dimensional spacetime in heterotic supergravity leaving four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. We search for nonsupersymmetric, non-Ricci-flat solutions of the equations of motion with the quadratic curvature term. By…
We consider the timelike minimal surface problem in Minkowski spacetimes and show local and global existence of such surfaces having arbitrary dimension $\geq 2$ and arbitrary co-dimension, provided they are initially close to a flat plane.
A gravity theory without masses can be constructed in Minkowski spaces using a geometric Minkowski potential. The related affine spacelike spheres can be seen as the regions of the Minkowski spacelike vectors characterized by a constant…
The title is self-explanatory. We aim to give an easy to read and self-contained introduction to the field of harmonic manifolds. Only basic knowledge of Riemannian geometry is required. After we gave the definition of harmonicity and…
We show that a topology can be defined in the four dimensional space-time of special relativity so as to obtain a topological semigroup for time. The Minkowski 4-vector character of space-time elements as well as the key properties of…
We introduce a canonical, compact topology, which we call weakly causal, naturally generated by the causal site of J. D. Christensen and L. Crane, a pointless algebraic structure motivated by certain problems of quantum gravity. We show…
Quantization of relativistic point particles coupled to three-dimensional Einstein gravity naturally leads to field theories living on the Lorentz group in their momentum representation. The Lie group structure of momentum space can be…
The following four statements have been proven decades ago already, but they continue to induce a strange feeling: - All curvature invariants of a gravitational wave vanish - in spite of the fact that it represents a nonflat spacetime. -…
I show that all FRW models (four dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifolds with maximally symmetric space) can be embedded in a flat Minkowski manifold with 5 dimensions. The pseudo Riemannian metric of space-time is induced by the flat…
The Hilbert space representations of a non-commutative q-deformed Minkowski space, its momenta and its Lorentz boosts are constructed. The spectrum of the diagonalizable space elements shows a lattice-like structure with accumulation points…
We prove that an isometric immersion of a timelike surface in four-dimensional Minkowski space is equivalent to a normalized spinor field which is a solution of a Dirac equation on the surface. Using the quaternions and the complex numbers,…
We show that the nonlinear wave equation corresponding to the minimal surface equation in Minkowski space time has global solutions for sufficiently small initial data. This is an interesting model in Lorentziann and is also the equation…
A Riemannian manifold is called harmonic if its volume density function expressed in polar coordinates centered at any point is radial. Flat and rank-one symmetric spaces are harmonic. The converse (the Lichnerowicz Conjecture) is true for…