Lorentz interval
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The Lorentz interval is a quantity that is used instead of distance when dealing with space-time geometry, because it is the only quantity that is the same to all observers regardless of how fast they are moving in spacetime, that is, in all reference frames. In other words, it is not affected by relative-velocity length contractions or time dilation.
The Lorentz interval is also referred to as the geometry of space-time, as opposed to Euclidian geometry, and it is a valuable invariant in Lorentz transformations.
The separation or interval between any two events is constant for all of the observers, even though each observer measures different spatial separations and different time separations:
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- interval2 = c2 (change in time)2 - (separation in space)2
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