Classification of Relativity

Abstract

In this work, we discuss the possibility to classify relativity in accordance with the classification of second order partial differential equations that have been applied into the formulation of physical laws in physics. In mathematics, since second order partial differential equations can be classified into hyperbolic, elliptic or parabolic type, therefore we show that it is also possible to classify relativity accordingly into hyperbolic, elliptic or parabolic type by establishing coordinate transformations that preserve the forms of these second order partial differential equations. The coordinate transformation that preserves the form of the hyperbolic equation is the Lorentz transformation and the associated space is the hyperbolic, or pseudo-Euclidean, relativistic spacetime. Typical equations in physics that comply with hyperbolic relativity are Maxwell and Dirac equations. The coordinate transformation that preserves the form of the elliptic equation is the modified Lorentz transformation that we have formulated in our work on Euclidean relativity and the associated space is the elliptic, or Euclidean, relativistic spacetime. As we will show in this work, equations that comply with elliptic relativity are the equations that describe the subfields of Maxwell and Dirac field. And the coordinate transformation that preserves the form of the parabolic equation is the Euclidean transformation consisting of the translation and rotation in the spatial space and the associated space is the parabolic relativistic spacetime, which is a Euclidean space with a universal time. Typical equations in physics that comply with parabolic relativity are the diffusion equation, the Schrödinger equation and in particular the diffusion equations that are derived from the four-current defined in terms of the differentiable structures of the spacetime manifold, and the Ricci flow.