Timelike vector 2026-10-06
A timelike vector obeys in metric signature . Its orthogonal complement has positive-definite metric; the two timelike cones give the local future and past choices.
Causal vector 2026-10-06
A nonzero causal vector is timelike or null: with metric signature . The zero vector is commonly included when stating the dominant energy condition.
Lorentzian inner product 2026-10-06
A Lorentzian inner product is a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form with one negative and the remaining positive eigenvalues in the mostly-plus convention. Two nonzero future causal vectors have nonpositive inner product; if either is timelike, it is strictly negative.
Spacelike vector 2026-10-06
With metric signature , a nonzero vector is spacelike when its Lorentzian inner product with itself satisfies . In Minkowski spacetime, this means its spatial components have larger squared Euclidean length than its time component. The classification is preserved by Lorentz transformations. A timelike vector has negative squared Lorentzian inner product, and a null vector has zero squared Lorentzian inner product.
Null coordinate Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
A null coordinate is a coordinate function whose gradient is null, . Its level sets are null hypersurfaces. Pairs of such coordinates straighten radial null directions in two-dimensional orbit metrics; a monotone reparametrization of either function preserves its null level sets. Examples include the retarded and advanced null coordinates and the radial Kruskal–Szekeres coordinates.
Lorentz invariance Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-25
A physical quantity is Lorentz invariant when its value is unchanged under Lorentz transformations. Tensor equations can be Lorentz covariant while their components transform. Fixed-vector gauge choices need not make covariance manifest, although physical gauge-invariant predictions retain the symmetry.
Rapidity Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
Rapidity is a dimensionless parameter for a signed collinear velocity with , defined using the inverse hyperbolic functions byHere is the speed of light, and is the hyperbolic tangent. Zero velocity has zero rapidity; negative velocity has negative rapidity. Every finite real rapidity gives , while requires . Thus a light ray has no finite rapidity in this parametrization. The header's formula uses natural units : its is the numerical velocity .
For the inertial frames in the velocity-addition formula, moves at signed velocity along the -axis of . Set . Re-expressing the same particle in the moving inertial frame givesThe subtraction is a passive change of reference frame; the inverse adds the particle's rapidity in to the frame's rapidity relative to . For example, and give , so and , exactly as in the velocity-addition formula.
For a massive particle of rest mass moving in one spatial dimension, its energy and signed momentum areThe hyperbolic cosine is the particle's Lorentz factor, and the hyperbolic sine is . The hyperbolic Pythagorean identity immediately gives the relativistic energy-momentum relation . In the older notation, writing the rest mass as recovers , , and . These expressions use natural units in which the factors of are numerically one; the preceding formulas restore those factors explicitly. [ref]
https://davidtong.org/pdfs/teaching/dynamics-and-relativity/dynrel7.pdf. David Tong, Dynamics and Relativity, §7.3.2: rapidity; §7.4.3: energy and momentum
.The useful simplification follows from the hyperbolic-function identity : the nonlinear velocity-addition formula becomes ordinary addition of rapidities. See iterated collinear boosts with equal rapidity for a plotted example. A common collinear Lorentz boost shifts every rapidity by the same constant, so a rapidity difference is invariant. This makes rapidity useful for relativistic factorized scattering in one spatial dimension, where two-body S-matrices depend on the difference of the incoming rapidities, with particle species fixed.
Inflationary shear damping 2026-10-06
The traceless mixed extrinsic curvature of a spatial hypersurface can have leading solution . Cosmic inflation suppresses this anisotropic expansion. An anisotropic spatial shape can nevertheless freeze to a nonzero constant, so shear damping does not prove the absence of tensor cosmological perturbations.
Nonlinear scalar metric in a cosmological gradient expansion Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
With vectors and independent tensors neglected, finite scalar cosmological perturbations of the local spatial scale can be encoded by . Scalar lapse and shift potentials complete its 3+1 decomposition of spacetime. The exact shift-square term is , independently of the parametrization of the scalar shift.
For a real smooth solution of the long-wave convection equation with broken Boussinesq symmetry, assume a periodic spatial average or an existing long-interval average with vanishing endpoint fluxes. Integration by parts gives the exact energy method identityThus prevents growth of the mean-square temperature at arbitrary amplitude in this averaging class. This sufficient nonlinear bound need not equal the linear instability threshold, and it does not imply pointwise monotonicity of the temperature.
In a weakly nonlinear expansion of the long-wave convection equation with broken Boussinesq symmetry at , a critical Fourier mode generates . The quadratic interaction of these first and second harmonics feeds back into the critical Fourier mode, while the cubic gradient nonlinearity contributes . The Fredholm solvability condition is consequently . The sign of distinguishes supercritical and subcritical branches; requires a higher-order amplitude equation.
Single-observation location minimax bound Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
For a known mean-zero noise law with finite variance , observing only with unrestricted has minimax risk under squared-error loss. The observation itself attains this risk. For the lower bound, use a flat prior distribution on and condition an easier experiment on . Away from the prior endpoints, the Bayesian posterior noise has its original truncated law. Let and then in the resulting Bayes risk lower bound. No normal distribution or density for the noise is required.
Localization commutes with tensor products Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
For a multiplicatively closed set in a commutative ring , the map sends to . An inverse sends to . The fraction relations and the tensor product of modules balancing relation make these maps well-defined and mutually inverse.
Local volatility model 2026-10-06
The stock diffusion has spot-dependent local volatility. With positive volatility and the Brownian filtration, Brownian martingale representation theorem converts discounted payoff martingales into stock gains.
Cotangent space of a local ring 2026-10-06
For a local ring with residue field , its cotangent space is the -vector space . In a Noetherian local ring, its dimension is the minimal number of generators of , by the Nakayama lemma. Equality of this dimension with the Krull dimension defines a regular local ring.
Local integral domain 2026-10-06
A local ring that is also an integral domain. Multiplication by any nonzero element is injective. This permits cancellation in Artin-Rees lemma length-growth arguments.
Local homomorphism of local rings 2026-10-06
A homomorphism of local rings is local if , equivalently . The equivalence uses the fact that all elements outside are units. It induces an embedding of residue fields .
Nielsen's pure-state conversion theorem Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
An exact deterministic LOCC conversion of a bipartite pure state to another is possible exactly when the input vector of squared Schmidt coefficients is majorized by the output vector. Sort the two probability vectors decreasingly and pad with zeros to a common length before applying majorization. A maximally entangled state may therefore be converted to a product state, while the reverse conversion is forbidden. The criterion does not assert conversion by postselection or with a catalyst.
Strict local maximum 2026-10-06
A function has a strict local maximum at if some neighbourhood contains no other point with . Unlike a non-strict local maximum, equality at another sufficiently nearby point is excluded. Use neighbourhoods relative to the domain, including when is an endpoint.
Local Hamiltonian problem 2026-10-06
Given a polynomial list of fixed-locality Hermitian terms and thresholds separated by at least an inverse polynomial, distinguish whether the minimum eigenvalue of their sum is at most or at least . Terms may be normalized to with polynomial rescaling. This promise problem is in QMA by local-energy measurement verification.
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