English

Stereoscopic visualization in curved spacetime: seeing deep inside a black hole

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2010-12-21 v1

Abstract

Stereoscopic visualization adds an additional dimension to the viewer's experience, giving them a sense of distance. In a general relativistic visualization, distance can be measured in a variety of ways. We argue that the affine distance, which matches the usual notion of distance in flat spacetime, is a natural distance to use in curved spacetime. As an example, we apply affine distance to the visualization of the interior of a black hole. Affine distance is not the distance perceived with normal binocular vision in curved spacetime. However, the failure of binocular vision is simply a limitation of animals who have evolved in flat spacetime, not a fundamental obstacle to depth perception in curved spacetime. Trinocular vision would provide superior depth perception.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1012.4043,
  title  = {Stereoscopic visualization in curved spacetime: seeing deep inside a black hole},
  author = {Andrew J. S. Hamilton and Gavin Polhemus},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1012.4043},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

Authors' cut of version accepted by NJP. Some of the material herein appeared originally in gr-qc/0903.4717 (http://arxiv.org/abs/0903.4717). 26 pages, 15 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:00:53.825Z