Questions tagged [space-time]
Questions regarding the 4-dimensional background structure of our universe.
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Could inhomogeneities or topological defects break the fundamental symmetries of the Universe?
I have heard that some types of inhomogeneities and topological defects in cosmology have been proposed to be able to break fundamental symmetries of nature such as the Poincaré, Lorentz, ...
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Does expansion of space stretches space time fabric?
This question appeared to me when I was thinking about General relativity. During the expansion of space the space in which particles reside on are expanded , now general relativity states gravity is ...
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Light or neutrinos graze or pass through the Sun and arrive at Earth - need an expression for Sun's gravitational effect on observation direction/time
Skyfield's Github has discussion Jupiter hiccup #815 which then links back to to Non-physical gravitational deflection corrections for Solar System bodies #734.
The script and plot from #815 are shown ...
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Why is time referred to as "The" capital T 4th dimension?
Often you hear people say "time is The 4th dimension". What confuses me is that people talk about "The 4th" dimension as if it's a specific thing and I don't understand why.
What I ...
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Would an observer standing at the edge of the "observable universe" perceive the expansion of space-time?
I got this bizarre idea in my mind, after reading SCP-3321
There, as a person gets teleported through a wormhole, ends up at the edge of the Observable Universe, 46 billion light-years away from Earth....
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Time and space travel as applied to expanding space and the ratio of/between time and distance
If a place is 500 light years away, then I set out to this place, then is it true to say that, the place which I set out from, will be 750 light years away from my destination, once I have reached it?
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If Looking Into Space is Like Looking Back in Time, Why is it the Same in Every Direction?
After seeing the James Webb space picture, in which a tiny sliver of the sky the size of a piece of rice from our perspective here on Earth was examined and revealed contain, as expected, an abundance ...
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How would a balloon structure of a universe look if we collected all mass together in a small region?
Imagine a universe with an inflating balloon structure of spacetime. Matter is distributed uniformly.
Now somehow we manage to collect all matter together within a small volume. What would happen to ...
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Does dark energy make galaxies expand over long periods of time?
Does dark energy expand galaxies slightly over time? I would think this could be verified easily (observe if galaxies far away / further in the past smaller and denser), and might make a good ...
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In relativity why does matter bend spacetime in a downward direction [closed]
A major flaw , I think it is in relativity.
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Does the combination of concepts of "cosmic sensorship" and "Gregory-Laflamme instability" correlate with the "string theory"?
Does the combination of concepts of "cosmic sensorship" and "Gregory-Laflamme instability" correlate with the "string theory" since it appears that both require ...
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Is it suspicious that gravitational waves propagate at the speed of light?
Thinking about gravitational waves and the fact that they propagate at the speed of light, I was wondering if it isn't suspicious - the speed of light I mean. Does it perhaps point to something ...
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Why is the FLRW universe (general relativity solution(s)) sometimes called the 'FRW universe'?
Why is the letter L for Georges LeMaîtres often, or even usually, left out?
Does he, or does he not, deserve some credit for this cosmological solution to Einstein's general relativity?
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What exactly is space-time fabric?
I have heard about space-time fabric but I can't understand its definition. Is space-time fabric a physical thing or did Einstein imagine it to assist him with general relativity?
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How do we know that spacetime is fabric? [closed]
I have started learning about astronomy as it amazes and inspires me.
I have a question. What led us to believe that spacetime is fabric? What is the evidence shows this, and is it considered proven?
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If the Sun disappeared, could some planets form a new orbital system?
If the sun were to suddenly disappear, the planets would continue to travel tangentially to their former orbits. (This I know from this answer to a somewhat related question here.)
In such a scenario, ...
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What are the stages in the life of a universe?
Geological periods describe varying phases in the last few hundred million years on earth.
Are there any names for the periods on a timescale 1-2 orders of magnitude greater, that is, for the stages ...
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Assuming proton decay is false, what's the ultimate fate of a neutron star or white dwarf?
A still unproven theory that protons can decay, and have a halflife of $10^{30}$ years or so, meaning eventually all matter will dissolve because their constituent protons and therefore neutrons will ...
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If an exoplanet transit we are seeing is 13000 light years away, are we seeing a 13000-year-old orbit? [duplicate]
If a star is 13000 light years away, doesn't that mean we are seeing 13000-year-old light? If it does, then does that mean when we discover a planet with dimming star light, we are seeing a planet ...
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Confused about rubber sheet analogy!
How to resolve confusions on the rubber sheet analogy of the spacetime curvatures?
I am a newbie to spacetime curvature. I have watched several youtube videos on Einsteins GR and spacetime curvature ...
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How do scientists know that the distant parts of the universe obey the physical laws exactly as we observe around us?
How do scientists know that distant parts of the universe obey the physical laws exactly as we observe around us?
The question might look a bit odd but I am really stuck on my head. We know, ...
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If the Sun disappears right now, when the absence of its gravity affects on Earth? [duplicate]
Imagine if the Sun disappears right now. When the Earth will be affected by its absence? Does it affect immediately, or it takes almost 8 minutes? (The time that light travels from the Sun to the ...
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How would you define "space" in GR (General Relativity) and in QFT (Quantum Field Theory)?
Is there a univocal definition of space that can be accepted in GR and in QFT?
In GR space is actually "Spacetime", a 4-dimensional entity that includes time. In this case it's impossible to ...
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Distance between two events
I would like to start from the very basic such as Pythagoras Theorem.
If I want to calculate distance between two points in a right-angled Triangle We use
$c^{2}= a^{2}+b^{2}$; Using this We are quite ...
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Can expansion of space cause the motion of galaxies, does expansion of space do effect motion of our sun around center and earth around Sun?
I'm just wondering that expansion is anyway related to in effecting motion of a star under the galaxies ? Planets are currently revolving around sun in helix motion, if galaxies has motion as well ...
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Does time flow in a Minkowski spacetime?
In a spacetime where the stress-energy tensor is null (no energy, no matter, no entropy), I wonder whether any motion of the variable time in the phase-space is well defined.
The arrow of time, meant ...
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If time is not absolute and depends on the gravitational field, then why we keep using our own (particular) time in cosmology?
Sorry if my question is not really clear, but indeed it is not clear in my mind neither.
But maybe some of you can help.
Time is not absolute and can be affected by the gravitational potential.
Now ...
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Types of Multiverses [closed]
Can anyone recommend me books or other online resources on the concept of the Multiverse, it types, and about higher mathematical dimensions of space-time. I have been interested in such topics for a ...
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First Confirmed Visual Observation of Gravitational Lensing
Is it possible to identify the first direct observation of the gravitational lensing?
What object was lensed, and where did the energy detected fall on the electromagnetic spectrum?
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Will I age slower in space or on other planets? [closed]
I came across few videos which says Astronauts in ISS will have 0.07 seconds extra life.
So if life is possible on mars, than what is the time period of life for ...
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Will the "fabric of space time" rip from expansion?
I'm quite familiar with the fabric of space time theory and as I've been quite lonely these past few weeks, I started thinking that since the universe is expanding and since the "fabric" is the ...
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Why are pseudo-Newtonian potentials used in studies of accretion processes around black holes?
In accretion processes around black holes, pseudo-Newtonian potentials are defined for the the black hole geometry. For examples, the potentials defined by Paczynski-Wiita and Artemova et al. for ...
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Is it possible make artificial gravitational waves?
Is it possible to generate gravitational waves (creating low or high disturbance in space-time) from very heavy bodies spinning at very high speed artificially?
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With the expansion of the universe is time also increasing?
With more space being created would there be more time in that new region formed? Is the over all universe increasing in time? This is my first question so go easy on me. PS. Would that also mean that ...
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Is it possible to overcome the problem of blind spot(s) of current gravitational wave detectors?
If gravitational waves (GWs) pass through specific points (which are known as blind spots), current GW detectors aren't able to detect the passing waves. In the future, will we be able to completely ...
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Why we can't see our Sun as it was a few years ago?
Our Sun is orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy. So many years ago, it was at a different location from where it is now.
In addition, we are observing stars and exoplanets as they were many ...
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Based off of the study that found the universe has a positive curvature, how big would the whole universe be?
This study found that the universe has a positive curvature https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0906-9. I didn't really want to buy it and see if it says how big the universe might be. I know ...
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Whats the time dilation difference between the earths reference and (near) the milky way galaxy central black hole? [duplicate]
How much difference in time is there between our time of reference and very near the black hole at the center of our galaxy.
I was trying to get answer in terms of something like "1 year in here ...
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Neutron star size in different reference frames
What is the estimated size of neutron stars observed in their reference frame and in our reference frame?
That is, how bent is space-time around neutron stars?
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How is time defined in astronomy?
I was amazed when my teacher told me that in space, time is define as a coordinate. It means we can define something with a four coordinate system with "negative time" $-t$ as easily as we can say $-...
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How does time work beyond the cosmic event horizon?
The faster you move through space, the slower you move through time - the calculations show that as you approach lightspeed, time comes to a standstill.
How does time work beyond the cosmic event ...
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Why does the outside edge of a Kerr black hole ergosphere rotate at the same speed as the inner edge?
Reading through the Wikipedia on a Kerr black hole ergosphere, and this nice question on the maximal spin rate of a black hole leads me to ask: why does the outer edge of the ergosphere rotate at the ...
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Do gravitationally bound (e.g. orbiting) objects really resist the expansion of space?
Thinking about the expansion of space, it is commonly explained that gravitationally bound objects (like galaxies and galaxy clusters) will not be affected by the expansion of space (dark energy). I ...
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Will intergalactic travel be impossible in roughly 15 billion years?
Even if we (or aliens somewhere in the universe living at that time) somehow invent something that can go just short of the speed of light, will intergalactic travel still be impossible in roughly 15 ...
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How can we see stars if they are hundred years of light far from the Earth?
So the right question is, is the light years counted from that second when you look up to the sky? If that so, how can we see the stars from the telescope (which I think it starts when you put your ...
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What is the time dilation less a magnetic field?
Does time dilation drop off like a gravity or does resemble a magnetic field model?
Could a smaller body with a magnetic field have more time dilation then a larger body without and to what degree?
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Universe is expanding, why doesn't time expand with it?
Reading this response When the universe expands does it create new space, matter, or something else? I understand Universe is not expanding like if it is stretching its space, but it is actually ...
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Why is time considered a (fourth) dimension?
Since dimensions usually refer to space and we naturally acknowledge three of them, we also perceive time and we separate space from time ("space AND time"), why is it, that time has ended up in the ...
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How does a spinning black hole affect space-time compared to a non-spinning black hole?
I often see questions on this site that only apply to non-spinning black holes and often wonder how the answer would be different for a spinning black hole. As the title says, what are the major ...
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Discontinuity in space-time
What I understood about it till now is that space-time fabric is kind of broken there. Please tell me whether I am correct.
If it's true then does it mean that perception of time will stop there?
I ...
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