Hyperspace

With hyperspace (from the Greek hyper for about ) is called more generally an extension of a conventional space, so a design that goes beyond the traditional concept of space. In most cases this is a higher-dimensional space, which has in comparison with a three-dimensional space with additional degrees of freedom. However, the exact meaning of the term is highly dependent on the context and can only be understood with reference to the notion of space used there.

Origin of the term

The term hyperspace was first used in the second half of the 19th century, as in mathematics abstract spatial concepts emerged, which went beyond the three dimensional intuitive space. The beginning of the mathematical analysis of such exotic areas dates back to 10 June 1854, when Bernhard Riemann in his professorial lecture at the University of Göttingen its radically new geometry of curved arbitrarily -dimensional spaces introduced. Following or inspired by its use in mathematics, where he also represented a break with the traditional ideas, the term also found its way into many other areas, such as in literature, philosophy, psychology and physics. The mathematician Simon Newcomb took the fascination with the concept far beyond the mathematics addition, in an address to the American Mathematical Society in December 1897 in the following words:

"The introduction of what is now very gene rally called hyper -space, Especially space of more than three dimensions, into mathematics Has Proved a stumbling block to more than one viable philosopher. ( German: the introduction of what is now generally referred to as hyperspace - particularly space with more than three dimensions - in mathematics has proved to be a stumbling block for more than just a capable philosopher. ) "

Use in mathematics

In mathematics, the term was originally used for higher-dimensional Euclidean spaces with four or more dimensions. Later, the term was extended to other higher-dimensional spaces, where another concept of space can serve as underlying Euclidean.

In a completely independent concept formation Hyper rooms are designed as structures on topological spaces in the topology. Under the hyperspace of a space is understood as a space whose points are proper subsets of, and can be embedded in the. This space concept was developed in 1914 by Felix Hausdorff in its fundamentals of set theory for metric spaces, it was extended in 1922 by Leopold Vietoris on general topological spaces.

Use of Physik

In physics is meant by a hyperspace a physical space, which has more than three dimensions and thus goes beyond our ordinary three-dimensional spatial visualization. However, the term was originally used to describe higher-dimensional spaces hardly in the scientific literature, but first coined in science fiction literature. After the physicist Michio Kaku had then published in 1994 a popular book about theoretical physics with the title Hyperspace (English for hyperspace ), the term has become increasingly popular in the scientific and less frequently used also in the professional scientific literature. Depending on the underlying physical theory of hyperspace has a dimension number from 4 ( General Relativity ) and 11 (M- theory).

Since the introduction of non-Euclidean geometries in mathematics by Riemann found descriptions of " higher dimensions " too many input in art and literature. In particular, the interest in an additional spatial " fourth dimension " reached 1870-1920 a climax, hyperspaces and higher dimensions were a metaphor for the strange and inscrutable. A literary classic, which uses the fourth dimension as an allegory for the limitations of the human imagination, is the short story tract of land in 1884 by Edwin Abbott Abbott. However, other authors such as Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust, Dostoevsky and HG Wells, the term appears. In addition, ideas inspired by higher dimensions works of musicians such as Alexander Scriabin, Edgar Varèse and George Antheil, and painters such as Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp and influenced the development of Cubism and Expressionism.

In contrast to other literature in which the penultimate turn of the century fell sharply after the peak of interest, the use, has firmly established itself in the science fiction concept of hyperspace. He called there a medium that can take "shortcuts" through the space ships to bypass the relativistic justified impossibility of superluminal speeds. The term was introduced Hyperspace (English for hyperspace ) in the science-fiction in 1931 by John W. Campbell in the American magazine version of his novel Iceland of Space (in translation: Cosmic cruise).

Physical representation of the hyperspace in art and literature

The hyperspace is usually described in the literature as a parallel world with special properties, to use him as a plot device can. In this hyperspace the real physical laws of nature do not or only partially apply mostly.

This image also bears the term Warp Space used as an alternative bill. Some authors describe an artificially produced, limited phenomenon, which they then often use the term Space Warp, who also appeared for the first time at Campbell. Also, the image of a filiform structured hyperspace is occasionally used - then mostly called Slipstream -, such as the television series Andromeda, with the authors here by terms of the string theory inspired. However, the original concept of hyperspace is the most common by far. Although used in the science fiction hyperspace concept has no rational plausibility, it has been at least since the 1950s, to a commonly used trick to circumvent the limitations of the real physics. Representations of higher dimensions that make this even in the center of the action and not just use them as tools, however, are relatively rare. An example of this is the use in the series Babylon 5, where the hyperspace is a central plot element of the series and is depicts as colored, cloud-like environment.

Experiments in the science- fiction literature to illustrate the hyperspace itself, often describe a chaotic, confusing the senses environment. Examples of such representations are the novels The Mapmakers (1955 ) by Frederik Pohl, Hyperspace (1959 ) by R. Lionel Fanthorpe, All the Traps of Earth ( 1960) by Clifford D. Simak, Time Piece (1968 ) by Brian N. Ball and A Different Light (1978 ) by Elizabeth A. Lynn.. Occasionally the hyperspace The most well-known visualization of a fictional hyperspace described populated as exotic creatures, such as in Christopher Grimm's novel Someone to Watch Over Me from 1959 is taken from the film series Star Wars, which was released in theaters in 1977: Although the term it merely acts as acquired from earlier science fiction works artifice for the action, the hyperspace concept went through the spectacular effects that illustrate the jump of the spaceships into hyperspace, finally in the pop culture.

In addition to the pictorial representation of an optically visible parallel space but there is also the opposite concept to describe hyperspace as an abstract non-visible place. In example, the works of Larry Niven ( Ringworld ) or Michael McCollum (Gibraltar Stars Trilogy ) this representation is used. In the television series and movies of the Star Trek franchise, where the term subspace is needed for hyperspace. The subspace is visualized in later series like Voyager.