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====== Topology and the Structure of Space-Time ====== | ====== Topology and the Structure of Space-Time ====== | ||
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**Tim Maudlin** | **Tim Maudlin** | ||
+ | \\ //Department of Philosophy//, New York University | ||
+ | <blockquote> | ||
+ | [{{ :maudlin.png?330|Tim Maudlin}}] | ||
Mathematical representations of physical entities are shaped by the mathematical tools used to create them. Space, time, and space-time have traditionally been represented by topological spaces: sets of points that are knit together, at the most fundamental level, by a structure of open sets that satisfies the axioms of standard topology. Notions such as the connectedness of a space, the boundary of a set, and the continuity of a function are defined by reference to these open sets. Additional geometrical structure (such as metrical or affine structure) can be added to a topological space, but the mathematical representation typically | Mathematical representations of physical entities are shaped by the mathematical tools used to create them. Space, time, and space-time have traditionally been represented by topological spaces: sets of points that are knit together, at the most fundamental level, by a structure of open sets that satisfies the axioms of standard topology. Notions such as the connectedness of a space, the boundary of a set, and the continuity of a function are defined by reference to these open sets. Additional geometrical structure (such as metrical or affine structure) can be added to a topological space, but the mathematical representation typically |