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In other words, which components or concepts in special relativity are reflected in Minkowski spacetime? If I'm not mistaken, Lorentz covariance is one of these concepts, correct? I'm trying to understand the connection between SR and Minkowski spacetime in more concrete terms.

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    What do you mean with "components"? – ACuriousMind Apr 07 '15 at 22:08
  • Key concepts e.g. Lorentz covariance, spacetime interval, the invariance of c, etc. What features does Minkowski spacetime show us about the world that connects it to phenomena that arise from special relativity? – Student Apr 07 '15 at 22:25

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Everything about special relativity is contained in the Minkowski metric. That single equation contains everything you need to know about SR. There are no end of questions in this site demonstrating how various things can be calculated from the metric.

Re your comments above: note that it is an assumption that $ds^2$ is an invariant, and that the metric contains a constant called $c$ that turns out to be the speed of light.

Approaching SR from the Minkowski metric is (allegedly) harder than the more conventional approach new students are taught. However once mastered it's a lot more intuitive and sets you well on the path to understanding general relativity as well.

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John Rennie
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