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From Einstein's 1905 Postulates to the Geometry of Flat Space-Time

N. David Mermin
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Abstract

Minkowski diagrams in 1+1 dimensional flat space-time are given a strictly geometric derivation, directly from two gedanken experiments incorporating the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light and the principle of (special) relativity. Rectangles of photon trajectories play a central role in determining the simultaneity convention and in establishing the invariance of the interval.

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N. David Mermin. 2004-11-26. From Einstein's 1905 Postulates to the Geometry of Flat Space-Time. https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.200410122

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