Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World

Description

The main focus of this volume is the question: is spacetime nothing more than a mathematical space (which describes the evolution in time of the ordinary three-dimensional world) or is it a mathematical model of a real four-dimensional world with time entirely given as the fourth dimension? The book contains fourteen invited papers which either directly address the main question of the nature of spacetime or explore issues related to it. Content: Preface1. The Meaning of Dimensions Paul Wesson.2. Some Remarks on the Space-Times of Newton and Einstein Graham Hall.3. The adventures of Spacetime Orfeu Bertolami.4. Physics in the Real Universe: Time and Spacetime George F. R. Ellis.5. The Real World and Spacetime Hans C. Ohanian.6. Four-dimensional Reality and Determinism: an Answer to Stein Wim Rietdijk.7. Relativity, Dimensionality, and Existence Vesselin Petkov.8. Canonical Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World Martin Bojowald.9. Relativity theory does not imply that the future already exists: a counterexample Rafael D. Sorkin.10. Absolute Being versus Relative Becoming Joy Christian. 11. An Argument for 4D Blockworld from a Geometric Interpretation of Non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics Michael Silberstein, W.M. Stuckey, and Michael Cifone.12. Spacetime: Arena or Reality? H. I. Arcos and J. G. Pereira.13. Dynamical emergence of instantaneous 3-spaces in a class of models of general relativity Luca Lusanna and Massimo Pauri. 14. Lorentzian spacetimes from Parabolic and Elliptic systems of PDEs Carlos Barcelo.