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A timelike or null curve representing the spacetime history of an idealized particle or light signal; extended bodies require worldtubes or field descriptions.
wp-physics-worldlinenlab-physics-worldlineeinstein-spacetimetong-relativityEach relation below ends at this concept.
This is an authored directed relation from the source endpoint to the target endpoint.
A worldline is a curve of events parameterized by proper time or an affine parameter.
The source is a material constituent, structural component, or underlying quantum field whose excitation realizes the target physical system or particle. The edge label and detail must distinguish composition from field excitation; neither implies a simple classical sum of parts.
wp-physics-physical_eventnlab-physics-special_relativityeinstein-spacetimetong-relativitywp-physics-worldlinenlab-physics-worldlineThis is an authored directed relation from the source endpoint to the target endpoint.
Ideal particle histories are represented by smooth causal curves in spacetime.
A mathematical concept supplies part of the formal language, state space, representation, or analytic machinery used by a scientific or mathematical-physics concept. The source is the mathematical predecessor; this does not claim that physical content follows from mathematics alone.
wp-smooth_curvenlab-smooth_curvelee-smooth-manifoldswp-physics-worldlinenlab-physics-worldlineeinstein-spacetimetong-relativityEach relation below starts at this concept.
This is an authored directed relation from the source endpoint to the target endpoint.
Differentiating a timelike worldline with respect to proper time gives four-velocity.
The target represents a state, property, observable, or state-dependent description associated with the source system or theory.
wp-physics-worldlinenlab-physics-worldlineeinstein-spacetimetong-relativitywp-physics-four_velocitynlab-physics-velocityThis is an authored directed relation from the source endpoint to the target endpoint.
Proper time is the metric length parameter along a timelike worldline.
The target represents a state, property, observable, or state-dependent description associated with the source system or theory.
wp-physics-worldlinenlab-physics-worldlineeinstein-spacetimetong-relativitywp-physics-proper_timenlab-physics-proper_time