Physicslib4.Spacetime.Minkowski

Minkowski spacetime and the Alexandrov topology #

This file formalises the last three definitions of section 10.5 of the AQFT-in-Lean blueprint: standard Minkowski spacetime, the Alexandrov topology generated by intersections of chronological futures and pasts, and Minkowski spacetime (= standard Minkowski equipped with the Alexandrov topology).

Main definitions #

Modelling notes #

Supporting lemmas #

Standard Minkowski spacetime #

The underlying bilinear LinearMap for the Minkowski metric on ℝ⁴: (v, w) ↦ -v 0 * w 0 + v 1 * w 1 + v 2 * w 2 + v 3 * w 3.

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    The Minkowski metric on T_p ℝ⁴ = ℝ⁴, viewed as a continuous bilinear form ℝ⁴ →L[ℝ] ℝ⁴ →L[ℝ] ℝ given by (v, w) ↦ -v 0 * w 0 + v 1 * w 1 + v 2 * w 2 + v 3 * w 3. This is the form whose Gram matrix in the standard basis is diag(-1, 1, 1, 1) = lorentzSignature.

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      @[simp]
      theorem Physicslib4.minkowskiForm_apply (v w : SpacetimeModel) :
      (minkowskiForm v) w = -v.ofLp 0 * w.ofLp 0 + v.ofLp 1 * w.ofLp 1 + v.ofLp 2 * w.ofLp 2 + v.ofLp 3 * w.ofLp 3

      Standard Minkowski spacetime: ℝ⁴ with its Euclidean topology and the constant metric diag(-1, 1, 1, 1).

      The metric is η(v, w) = -v⁰w⁰ + v¹w¹ + v²w² + v³w³ at every point, in the standard coordinates (minkowskiForm). Its usual time orientation is the constant field ∂₀ (standardMinkowskiTimeOrientation); its geodesics are the straight lines traversed at constant velocity (standardMinkowski_isGeodesic_iff), and I⁺(p) is the open forward light cone of p (chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski). The Haag–Kastler axioms in Minkowski spacetime are stated on this spacetime.

      Implementation note: the atlas is the single identity chart of EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 4) and the model with corners is the identity, so a tangent space is ℝ⁴ itself.

      Blueprint: def:standard-minkowski-spacetime

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        @[instance_reducible]

        Additive-group structure on the Minkowski spacetime carrier, inherited from SpacetimeModel = EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 4).

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        ℝ-module structure on the Minkowski spacetime carrier, inherited from SpacetimeModel = EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 4).

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        StandardMinkowskiSpacetime.Carrier is definitionally SpacetimeModel (= EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 4)); expose its normed/finite-dimensional structure so that the Fréchet-derivative and continuity API applies to the affine Lorentz action directly.

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        The orthochronous Lorentz group SO(1,3)↑ #

        An invertible linear map Λ of ℝ⁴ is a Lorentz transformation: it preserves the Minkowski form, η(Λv, Λw) = η(v, w).

        Lorentz transformations are the linear isometries of Minkowski spacetime: rotations, boosts, parity and time reversal, and their products. With IsProper and IsOrthochronous they give the proper orthochronous Lorentz group SO(1,3)↑, the Λ of the inhomogeneous Lorentz group.

        Blueprint: def:lorentz-transformation

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          An invertible linear map Λ of ℝ⁴ is proper: det Λ = 1.

          A Lorentz transformation has det Λ = ±1; the proper ones exclude parity and time reversal individually, but not their product.

          Blueprint: def:lorentz-transformation

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            An invertible linear map Λ of ℝ⁴ is orthochronous: it preserves the direction of time, (Λe₀)⁰ > 0.

            Here e₀ = (1, 0, 0, 0) is the unit time vector. An orthochronous Lorentz transformation sends every future-pointing timelike vector to a future-pointing timelike vector (isOrthochronous_pos_time_of_timelike).

            Blueprint: def:lorentz-transformation

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              The identity preserves the Minkowski form.

              theorem Physicslib4.isLorentz_trans {L₁ L₂ : SpacetimeModel ≃ₗ[ℝ] SpacetimeModel} (h₁ : IsLorentz L₁) (h₂ : IsLorentz L₂) :
              IsLorentz (L₁ ≪≫ₗ L₂)

              The composition of two Lorentz transformations is Lorentz.

              The inverse of a Lorentz transformation is Lorentz.

              theorem Physicslib4.isProper_trans {L₁ L₂ : SpacetimeModel ≃ₗ[ℝ] SpacetimeModel} (h₁ : IsProper L₁) (h₂ : IsProper L₂) :
              IsProper (L₁ ≪≫ₗ L₂)

              The composition of two proper transformations is proper.

              The inverse of a proper transformation is proper.

              theorem Physicslib4.isOrthochronous_trans {L₁ L₂ : SpacetimeModel ≃ₗ[ℝ] SpacetimeModel} (hL₁ : IsLorentz L₁) (hO₁ : IsOrthochronous L₁) (hL₂ : IsLorentz L₂) (hO₂ : IsOrthochronous L₂) :

              The composition of two orthochronous Lorentz transformations is orthochronous. (Requires that both transformations are Lorentz.)

              The inverse of an orthochronous Lorentz transformation is orthochronous.

              Future-cone preservation under orthochronous Lorentz maps #

              The Minkowski inner product of any vector v with the canonical timelike basis vector e₀ = ∂₀ equals -(v 0).

              The Minkowski inner product of the canonical timelike basis vector e₀ = ∂₀ with any vector v equals -(v 0).

              An orthochronous Lorentz transformation preserves the sign of the time component of a timelike vector. If v is timelike (⟨v, v⟩ < 0) with positive time component, then so is L v. This is the geometric heart of "the future cone is preserved", and underlies the future-orientation invariance of causal curves. The proof normalises v to a unit timelike vector and compares it with the (already unit, future-pointing) reference L e₀ via the reverse Cauchy-Schwarz lemma timelike_sameSign_of_minkowskiForm_neg.

              The forward and backward Minkowski-cones #

              The forward Minkowski-cone of a point p ∈ ℝ⁴: the set of points q with p.0 < q.0 and -(q.0 - p.0)² + Σ_{i>0} (q.i - p.i)² < 0. This is the coordinate-explicit form of the chronological future of p on standard Minkowski spacetime.

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                The backward Minkowski-cone of a point q ∈ ℝ⁴: the set of points p with p.0 < q.0 and -(q.0 - p.0)² + Σ_{i>0} (q.i - p.i)² < 0. Equivalently, p ∈ minkowskiBackwardCone q ↔ q ∈ minkowskiForwardCone p.

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                  @[simp]
                  theorem Physicslib4.mem_minkowskiForwardCone (p q : SpacetimeModel) :
                  q ∈ minkowskiForwardCone p ↔ p.ofLp 0 < q.ofLp 0 ∧ -(q.ofLp 0 - p.ofLp 0) ^ 2 + (q.ofLp 1 - p.ofLp 1) ^ 2 + (q.ofLp 2 - p.ofLp 2) ^ 2 + (q.ofLp 3 - p.ofLp 3) ^ 2 < 0
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                  theorem Physicslib4.mem_minkowskiBackwardCone (p q : SpacetimeModel) :
                  p ∈ minkowskiBackwardCone q ↔ p.ofLp 0 < q.ofLp 0 ∧ -(q.ofLp 0 - p.ofLp 0) ^ 2 + (q.ofLp 1 - p.ofLp 1) ^ 2 + (q.ofLp 2 - p.ofLp 2) ^ 2 + (q.ofLp 3 - p.ofLp 3) ^ 2 < 0

                  The forward Minkowski-cone of p is an open subset of the Euclidean topology on ℝ⁴.

                  The backward Minkowski-cone of q is an open subset of the Euclidean topology on ℝ⁴.

                  Minkowski spacetime #

                  The standard time orientation of Minkowski spacetime: the constant vector field ∂₀ = e₀.

                  With it, a timelike vector v is future-pointing exactly when its time component v⁰ is positive. All the causal notions of standard Minkowski spacetime in the library (≪, ≺, the diamonds, the Alexandrov topology and the Haag–Kastler axioms) use this time orientation.

                  Blueprint: def:lorentz-path

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                    Characterisation of the chronological future on standard Minkowski #

                    The two theorems below identify chronologicalFuture and chronologicalPast on StandardMinkowskiSpacetime (with the canonical time orientation ∂_0) with the coordinate-explicit forward / backward Minkowski-cones. Both statements are needed downstream to compare the Alexandrov topology with the Euclidean topology on ℝ⁴; both are proved below. The proof structure is as follows.

                    Both directions ultimately appeal to the smooth-curve API in Physicslib4.Spacetime.Curves and the chronological-trip definition in Physicslib4.Spacetime.Causality. The reverse direction is minkowskiForwardCone_subset_chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski, with the analytic content factored into the named lemmas standardMinkowskiLineSegmentPath_continuousOn, standardMinkowskiLineSegmentPath_smoothOn, standardMinkowskiLineSegmentPath_mfderivWithin and standardMinkowskiLineSegmentPath_nonvanishing. The forward direction is chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski_subset, via the integration argument below.

                    The straight-line path s ↦ p + s • (q - p) is continuous on [0, 1] (from continuousOn_const / Continuous.smul / continuousOn_id). A component of the chronological-future characterisation.

                    The straight-line path s ↦ p + s • (q - p) is C^∞ on [0, 1], viewed as a map from (ℝ, modelWithCornersSelf ℝ ℝ) to standard Minkowski spacetime. A component of the chronological-future characterisation.

                    theorem Physicslib4.standardMinkowskiLineSegmentPath_mfderivWithin (p q : SpacetimeModel) (s : ℝ) :
                    s ∈ Set.Icc 0 1 → ((mfderiv[Set.Icc 0 1] fun (s : ℝ) => p + s • (q - p)) s) 1 = q - p

                    The derivative of the straight-line path s ↦ p + s • (q - p) at every point of [0, 1], applied to the basis vector 1 : ℝ, equals q - p. A component of the chronological-future characterisation.

                    theorem Physicslib4.standardMinkowskiLineSegmentPath_nonvanishing (p q : SpacetimeModel) (hpq : p ≠ q) (s : ℝ) :
                    s ∈ Set.Icc 0 1 → ((mfderiv[Set.Icc 0 1] fun (s : ℝ) => p + s • (q - p)) s) 1 ≠ 0

                    The straight-line path s ↦ p + s • (q - p) has non-vanishing derivative q - p (assuming p ≠ q); follows from standardMinkowskiLineSegmentPath_mfderivWithin together with p ≠ q. A component of the chronological-future characterisation.

                    The straight-line SmoothPath from p to q on standard Minkowski spacetime: s ↦ p + s • (q - p) parametrised by [0, 1]. This is the canonical witness for the reverse direction of chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski.

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                      Geodesics of standard Minkowski spacetime #

                      The Levi-Civita connection of standard Minkowski spacetime is flat: on vector fields differentiable at x, it is the directional derivative. (The metric is the constant form minkowskiForm.)

                      Blueprint reference: lmm:minkowski-levi-civita-flat.

                      theorem Physicslib4.standardMinkowski_smoothPath_hasDerivAt (μ : StandardMinkowskiSpacetime.SmoothPath) {s : ℝ} (hs : s ∈ interior μ.parameterSpace) :
                      HasDerivAt (fun (t : ℝ) => have this := μ.toFun t; this) (have this := μ.tangent s; this) s

                      At an interior parameter, a smooth path on standard Minkowski spacetime has ordinary derivative its tangent vector.

                      theorem Physicslib4.standardMinkowski_hasDerivAt_tangent_leviCivita (μ : StandardMinkowskiSpacetime.SmoothPath) {s : ℝ} (hs : s ∈ interior μ.parameterSpace) {X : (x : StandardMinkowskiSpacetime.Carrier) → TangentSpace StandardMinkowskiSpacetime.model x} (hX : (MDiffAt fun (x : StandardMinkowskiSpacetime.Carrier) => ⟨x, X x⟩) (μ.toFun s)) (hXμ : ∀ᶠ (t : ℝ) in nhds s, X (μ.toFun t) = μ.tangent t) :
                      HasDerivAt (fun (t : ℝ) => have this := μ.tangent t; this) (have this := (↑StandardMinkowskiSpacetime.toPseudoRiemannianMetric.leviCivita X (μ.toFun s)) (μ.tangent s); this) s

                      Along a smooth path on standard Minkowski spacetime, if a vector field X differentiable at μ s extends the velocity near an interior parameter s, then the velocity has derivative ∇_{μ'(s)} X at s.

                      Geodesics of standard Minkowski spacetime are the paths with zero acceleration: a smooth path is a geodesic iff its velocity has derivative 0 at every interior parameter.

                      Blueprint reference: lmm:minkowski-lines-are-geodesics.

                      Straight segments are geodesics. The affinely parametrised segment from p to q is a geodesic of standard Minkowski spacetime.

                      Blueprint reference: lmm:minkowski-lines-are-geodesics.

                      Forward direction: chronologicalFuture ⊆ minkowskiForwardCone #

                      The forward subset of chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski says: if there is a chronological trip from p to q on standard Minkowski spacetime, then q lies in the open forward Minkowski-cone of p. We package the analytic content into four named lemmas and assemble the proof from them:

                      1. mem_minkowskiForwardCone_iff_sub_mem — the obvious translation q ∈ minkowskiForwardCone p ↔ (q - p) ∈ minkowskiForwardCone 0, reducing membership to the based-at-zero cone.

                      2. standardMinkowski_timelike_futurePointing_iff_mem_minkowskiForwardCone_zero — a vector v : ℝ⁴ is timelike and future-pointing for the canonical time orientation ∂_0 iff v ∈ minkowskiForwardCone 0.

                      3. standardMinkowski_trip_displacement_eq_intervalIntegral — the fundamental theorem of calculus applied to a trip: given a trip from p to q witnessed by a smooth path rep, there exist parameter values a ≤ b in rep.parameterSpace with rep a = p, rep b = q, and q - p = ∫_a^b tangent(s) ds, where tangent(s) is the manifold derivative of rep.toFun at s applied to 1 : ℝ. Its body wires together four further named sub-lemmas:

                      4. intervalIntegral_mem_minkowskiForwardCone_zero — closure of the open forward Minkowski-cone (at the origin) under positive interval integration: if a continuous-on-[a, b] integrand lands in minkowskiForwardCone 0 on the open interval (a, b) and a < b, then ∫_a^b f s ds ∈ minkowskiForwardCone 0. This is the geometric "convex cone closed under positive linear combinations" fact, passed through Mathlib's interval-integral machinery.

                      The forward-subset proof itself wires these together: from the trip witness, FTC (step 3) gives an interval-integral representation of q - p; the trip's timelike future-pointing tangent (combined with step 2) shows the integrand lies in minkowskiForwardCone 0; closure under positive integration (step 4) puts q - p in minkowskiForwardCone 0; and the translation lemma (step 1) converts back to q ∈ minkowskiForwardCone p. Each step is one of the four named lemmas (or, for step 3, one of the four sub-lemmas A–D above).

                      Translation lemma: q ∈ minkowskiForwardCone p ↔ (q - p) ∈ minkowskiForwardCone 0. Both sides reduce to the same conjunction of inequalities on the components of q - p.

                      Timelike + future-pointing ↔ in the forward cone. On standard Minkowski spacetime with canonical time orientation ∂_0, a tangent vector v is timelike and future-pointing in the Spacetime-theoretic sense iff v ∈ minkowskiForwardCone 0. This packs together the chain of definitional unfoldings of IsTimelike, IsFuturePointing, and the explicit form of minkowskiForm against the distinguished basis vector.

                      Smooth-path FTC for standard Minkowski. For any smooth path μ on standard Minkowski spacetime whose parameter space is the closed interval Set.Icc a b with a < b, the difference of endpoints equals the interval integral of the manifold tangent. This is the fundamental theorem of calculus packaged for the mfderivWithin of a smooth path.

                      Trip tangent ∈ forward cone. For any trip rep on standard Minkowski spacetime witnessing a chronological precedence, the manifold tangent at every parameter point lies in minkowskiForwardCone 0. The proof unpacks the trip witness (yielding rep together with the past/future endpoint data and the timelike future-oriented properties of rep) and pointwise applies standardMinkowski_timelike_futurePointing_iff_mem_minkowskiForwardCone_zero.

                      Parameter space is a closed bounded interval. A smooth path rep on standard Minkowski spacetime carrying both a past endpoint p and a future endpoint q has parameter space exhaustively equal to Set.Icc a b with a < b, rep.toFun a = p, and rep.toFun b = q. With the strengthened IsPastEndpoint / IsFutureEndpoint of Curves.lean, the witnesses are genuine min/max of the parameter space, so a < b follows from the smooth path's nontrivial condition alone, no p ≠ q hypothesis is needed.

                      Continuity of the manifold tangent of a smooth path on its parameter Icc. For a smooth path μ on standard Minkowski spacetime with parameter space Set.Icc a b, the manifold tangent s ↦ mfderivWithin _ _ μ.toFun μ.parameterSpace s 1 is continuous on Set.Icc a b. This is the ContMDiffOn → continuity-of-mfderivWithin content packaged in a single declaration.

                      FTC for a trip on standard Minkowski. Every trip c from p to q on standard Minkowski spacetime is represented by a smooth path rep with parameter values a ≤ b lying in rep.parameterSpace, satisfying rep a = p, rep b = q, with the property that the trip's tangent at every interior s ∈ (a, b) is timelike future-pointing, and such that the fundamental theorem of calculus gives q - p = ∫_a^b rep.tangent(s) ds. Continuity of the tangent on the closed parameter interval is also exposed for use in the integration argument.

                      The body wires together four named sub-lemmas: standardMinkowski_trip_tangent_mem_minkowskiForwardCone_zero, standardMinkowski_smoothPath_parameterSpace_eq_Icc_of_endpoints, standardMinkowski_smoothPath_fundamental_theorem_calculus, and standardMinkowski_smoothPath_tangent_continuousOn.

                      theorem Physicslib4.intervalIntegral_mem_minkowskiForwardCone_zero {f : ℝ → SpacetimeModel} {a b : ℝ} (_hab : a < b) (_hf : ContinuousOn f (Set.Icc a b)) (_hmem : ∀ s ∈ Set.Ioo a b, f s ∈ minkowskiForwardCone 0) :

                      Closure under positive interval integration. If f : ℝ → ℝ⁴ is continuous on [a, b] and lies in the open forward Minkowski-cone at the origin throughout the open interval (a, b) (with a < b), then the interval integral ∫_a^b f s ds also lies in minkowskiForwardCone 0. This is the analytic incarnation of "the open forward Minkowski-cone is a convex cone, closed under positive convex combinations and hence under positive integration of cone-valued integrands".

                      Forward subset of chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski: every point in the chronological future of p lies in the open forward Minkowski-cone. Because a trip is a finite chain of trip segments, this is a transitive-closure induction: the base case is segmentPrecedes_mem_minkowskiForwardCone, and the inductive step uses forward-cone nesting minkowskiForwardCone_subset.

                      Reverse subset of chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski: every point of the open forward Minkowski-cone of p lies in the chronological future of p. Witnessed by the straight-line path standardMinkowskiLineSegmentPath.

                      Reverse subset of chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski: every point of the open forward Minkowski-cone of p lies in the chronological future of p. A single straight-line trip segment already realises the precedence, so this is Relation.TransGen.single applied to minkowskiForwardCone_subset_segmentPrecedes.

                      Characterisation of chronologicalFuture on standard Minkowski. The chronological future of p on StandardMinkowskiSpacetime agrees with the forward Minkowski-cone of p. This is the coordinate-explicit form of I⁺(p) that lets the agreement of the Alexandrov topology with the Euclidean topology on ℝ⁴ be proved. The two directions are split into chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski_subset and minkowskiForwardCone_subset_chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski (each assembled from the small analytic lemmas above).

                      Characterisation of chronologicalPast on standard Minkowski. Dual to chronologicalFuture_standardMinkowski, obtained from it by the definitional time-reversal symmetry of ChronologicallyPrecedes.

                      Easy direction of the Alexandrov-vs-Euclidean topology comparison. Every Alexandrov-basis set I⁺(p) ∩ I⁻(q) on standard Minkowski spacetime is open in the Euclidean topology on ℝ⁴. In Mathlib's convention (t₁ ≤ t₂ ↔ ∀ U, IsOpen[t₂] U → IsOpen[t₁] U), this is stated as Euclidean ≤ Alexandrov.

                      Hard direction of the Alexandrov-vs-Euclidean topology comparison. Every Euclidean-open subset of standard Minkowski spacetime is open in the Alexandrov topology. In Mathlib's convention (t₁ ≤ t₂ ↔ ∀ U, IsOpen[t₂] U → IsOpen[t₁] U), this is stated as Alexandrov ≤ Euclidean. Around each Euclidean-open point x we find a double cone I⁺(x⁻) ∩ I⁻(x⁺) shrunk to fit inside an open ball of U.

                      Alexandrov = Euclidean on standard Minkowski. Combining the two inclusions euclidean_le_alexandrov_standardMinkowski and alexandrov_le_euclidean_standardMinkowski, the Alexandrov topology generated by intersections of chronological futures and pasts coincides with the standard Euclidean topology on ℝ⁴.

                      A Type synonym for the carrier of standard Minkowski spacetime intended to carry the Alexandrov topology.

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                        The identity is a homeomorphism from the Euclidean model SpacetimeModel to MinkowskiSpacetimeCarrier (which carries the Alexandrov topology), because the two topologies coincide by alexandrov_eq_euclidean_standardMinkowski. This is the transport device used to inherit the Hausdorff, connectedness, and smooth-manifold structure.

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                          @[simp]

                          For the single-chart structure on MinkowskiSpacetimeCarrier, the chart at every point is the same global chart.

                          The singleton-chart structure makes MinkowskiSpacetimeCarrier a C^∞ manifold over the trivial self-model: the only transition map is the identity.

                          The chart inverse on MinkowskiSpacetimeCarrier has identity manifold derivative at every point of the chart target. The single chart is constant in the base point and the self-model has full range, so the inverse-chart derivative is the identity throughout the target, not just at the base point.

                          Minkowski spacetime: standard Minkowski spacetime with the Alexandrov topology as its topology.

                          The Alexandrov topology, generated by the diamonds I⁺(p) ∩ I⁻(q), equals the Euclidean topology of ℝ⁴ (alexandrov_eq_euclidean_standardMinkowski), so this is the same spacetime as StandardMinkowskiSpacetime with its topology described causally.

                          Implementation note: the carrier is the type synonym MinkowskiSpacetimeCarrier of ℝ⁴, whose TopologicalSpace instance is the Alexandrov topology. The charts, smooth structure, Hausdorff property and connectedness are transported along the identity homeomorphism euclideanHomeoMinkowski (instances instChartedSpaceMinkowskiCarrier and instIsManifoldMinkowskiCarrier), and the metric is minkowskiForm.

                          Blueprint: def:minkowski-spacetime

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                            Part (i): existence of a chronological-future point (standard Minkowski). Every point x of standard Minkowski spacetime has a point strictly to its chronological future; concretely x + e₀ lies in the forward Minkowski cone of x, since the connecting vector e₀ is future-pointing timelike.

                            Part (i), dual: existence of a chronological-past point. Every point x of standard Minkowski spacetime has a point strictly to its chronological past; concretely x - e₀ lies in the backward Minkowski cone.

                            Part (ii): Euclidean openness of the chronological future. On standard Minkowski spacetime I⁺(p) is open in the Euclidean (manifold) topology on ℝ⁴; via the coordinate cone characterisation it coincides with the forward Minkowski cone, which is open.

                            Part (iii): unconditional Alexandrov openness of the chronological future. On standard Minkowski spacetime I⁺(p) is open in the Alexandrov topology, unconditionally: the per-point hypothesis of the general lemma Spacetime.isOpen_chronologicalFuture is discharged by part (i).