A characterization of Lorentz boosts (Q866799): Difference between revisions

Suppose that \(Z=X \oplus {\mathbb R}\) is the space-time corresponding to a real inner product space \(X\) of dimension at least \(2\). A mapping \(\lambda : Z \to Z\) is said to be a Lorentz transformation if \(l(y, z)=l(\lambda(y), \lambda(z)) \quad (y, z \in Z)\), where \(l\) denotes the Lorentz-Minkowski distance. Lorentz boosts are special Lorentz transformations which play an essential role in the description of all isometries of \(Z\) [see \textit{W. Benz}, Classical geometries in modern contexts. Geometry of real inner product spaces. Basel: Birkhäuser. (2005; Zbl 1084.51001)]. The authors define the notion of an orthochronous boost and establish a necessary and sufficient condition in order a bijection Lorentz boost to be orthochronous. They also give a characterization of Lorentz boosts by distance invariance and the behavior on certain subspaces of \(Z\).