Editing 2646: Minkowski Space

{{comic
| number    = 2646
| date      = July 15, 2022
| title     = Minkowski Space
| image     = minkowski_space.png
| titletext = My liege, we were able to follow the ship into Minkowski space, but now they've jumped to Hilbert space and they could honestly be anywhere.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Faster than light travel}}, an impossibility in our universe, is often portrayed in science fiction by having spaceships enter (or "jump") into some different realm, termed "hyperspace" or similar {{w|technobabble}}, where superluminal travel can occur before returning to the ordinary universe. In this comic, a spaceship is being chased by an enemy ship and the crew attempt to escape by jumping into {{w|Minkowski space}} which is actually just conventional 3-D space together with time combined into a mathematical object called a {{w|manifold}} used in {{w|special relativity}}. Because Minkowski space is merely a representation of real physical {{w|spacetime}}, "jumping" into it is meaningless and offers no benefit for escaping pursuit, providing the humor of the comic's absurdist joke.

The visual depiction of the spaceships skewed diagonally is based on the graphical {{w|Minkowski diagram}} representation of objects in Minkowski space, where the {{w|world line}} of matter is bounded inside its diagonal {{w|light cone}}. 

The mention of distance depending on the observer's frame of reference refers to distances changing when measured in different {{w|inertial frame of reference|inertial frames of reference}}, a concept called the {{w|relativity of simultaneity}}. Here are [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asW78vToNLQ some videos] intended [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrqj88zQZJg to explain] that concept. The skewing depicted changes the distance between the spaceships in such a way that the tip of the pursuer comes closer to the pursued spaceship, but their centers move further apart. So the question of whether they have come closer is indeterminate for the reader of the comic.{{cn}}

The title text is a status report from someone in the pursuing spaceship to their leader (whom they call "my {{w|Homage (feudal)|liege}}.") Following the spaceship to Minkowski space was not a problem, but the pursued ship subsequently jumped to Hilbert space and could now be anywhere. Hiding in {{w|Hilbert space}} is much easier because Hilbert spaces (of which there are many very different varieties, unlike Minkowski space) can have an infinite number of dimensions, and are thus much more complicated than four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. However, Hilbert space is a mathematical construct used to describe objects such as functions of various parameters and complexity, not physical spatiotemporal reality, so it would be very unusual for a physical object to be represented in Hilbert space. Quantum states can be represented as vectors in Hilbert spaces, so it might relate to the {{w|uncertainty principle}} concerning how the escaped spaceship could be anywhere.

A similar situation happened in [[2577:_Sea_Chase]], where instead of jumping from space to space, ships jumped from map projection to map projection.

==Transcript==
:[A spaceship is being pursued by another spaceship of similar size but distinctly different design. Both ships have a black part in the front representing a window. The pursued spaceship to the right has two nacelles below and a big engine behind. The pursuing spaceship to the left has a V-shaped rear end, and what seems like two weapons on either side pointing forward. At least two persons inside the pursued spaceship are talking to each other, and their text comes out from two starburst on top and bottom of the spaceship.]
:Voice 1: The enemy ship is right behind us! 
:Voice 2: Prepare to jump to Minkowski space on my mark.

:[Same setting, with star burst above only. The sound coming from the pursued spaceship is written inside a burst of small lines below the spaceship. Voice 2, by context, is the same as in panel 1.]
:Voice 2: Three... two... one... ''mark!''
:Click

:[Both spaceship are tilted upwards and becomes distorted so they become longer and thinner.]

:[The tilting increases and the distortion is now so pronounced that the spaceships are almost unrecognizable, almost just lines with structure. The distance between the tip of the pursuing spaceship and the pursued becomes shorter in the last two panels, but the distance between their center parts becomes larger. Up to three distinct voices are shown, here, which may include those seen in Panel 1 but with no clear relation.]
:Voice 3: Are they still getting closer?
:Voice 4: I can't tell.
:Voice 5: I think it depends on your frame of reference.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]