Sum of future-pointing null vectors

ID: sum-of-future-pointing-null-vectors

In Minkowski spacetime with metric signature , write two nonzero future-pointing null vectors as and , where and are unit vectors. Their Lorentzian inner product gives
Thus their sum is a future-pointing causal vector. It is a null vector exactly when the spatial directions coincide, and a timelike vector otherwise. The positivity of the time components is essential: adding past- and future-pointing null vectors can instead produce a spacelike vector.

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