Understanding Penrose Diagrams - Insight & Explanation

[benk99nenm312]

Hey. I was hoping that someone(s) could give me some explanation and insight into the Penrose Diagram shown below. Any links to good sites would be great, as I have not found what I am looking for.

I guess, one of the things I am really wondering is: why is there a circular like distortion in the center? But in order to understand that, I assume I would need to understand the whole premise of the idea, so..

Thanks in advance.

 

[robphy]

Try
www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/HPS_0410/chapters/black_holes_picture/

 

[Entropia]

Penrose diagrams are a visualization tool used in theoretical physics to represent the structure of spacetime in a compact and simplified way. They were developed by the mathematician and physicist Roger Penrose in the 1960s and have since become an important tool in understanding various concepts in general relativity and cosmology.

The circular distortion in the center of the diagram is known as the "conformal infinity" and represents the infinite future or past of a given point in spacetime. This is because in traditional diagrams, these points would be infinitely far away and therefore difficult to represent. The conformal infinity allows us to better understand the structure of spacetime and its boundaries.

The basic idea behind Penrose diagrams is to represent the entire spacetime on a two-dimensional plane, with one axis representing space and the other representing time. This allows us to visualize the entire structure of spacetime in a more intuitive way.

One of the key benefits of using Penrose diagrams is that they can help us understand the behavior of light and objects moving at the speed of light. In traditional diagrams, these objects would appear to move in a straight line, but in Penrose diagrams, their paths appear as diagonal lines. This helps us understand the effects of gravity and how it affects the paths of objects in spacetime.

There are many resources available online that can provide more in-depth explanations and examples of Penrose diagrams. Some good places to start include websites dedicated to theoretical physics or cosmology, as well as academic articles and books on the subject.

In summary, Penrose diagrams are a powerful tool for understanding the structure of spacetime and its boundaries. They allow us to visualize complex concepts in a simpler and more intuitive way, making them an important tool in theoretical physics and cosmology.