Trigonometry of spacetimes: a new self-dual approach to a curvature/signature (in)dependent trigonometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a universal, self-dual trigonometric framework applicable to all 2D spaces of constant curvature and signature, unifying classical and relativistic geometries through a single group equation.

Contribution

It presents a novel, unified method to derive trigonometry for all constant curvature spaces, including relativistic and non-relativistic spacetimes, using a single group-theoretic equation.

Findings

Unified trigonometric equations for nine 2D constant curvature spaces

Extension of classical trigonometry to relativistic and degenerate signatures

Explicit derivation of cosine, sine, and dual cosine laws in a universal framework

Abstract

A new method to obtain trigonometry for the real spaces of constant curvature and metric of any (even degenerate) signature is presented. The method encapsulates trigonometry for all these spaces into a single basic trigonometric group equation. This brings to its logical end the idea of an absolute trigonometry, and provides equations which hold true for the nine two-dimensional spaces of constant curvature and any signature. This family of spaces includes both relativistic and non-relativistic homogeneous spacetimes; therefore a complete discussion of trigonometry in the six de Sitter, minkowskian, Newton--Hooke and galilean spacetimes follow as particular instances of the general approach. Any equation previously known for the three classical riemannian spaces also has a version for the remaining six spacetimes; in most cases these equations are new. Distinctive traits of the method are universality and self-duality: every equation is meaningful for the nine spaces at once, and displays explicitly invariance under a duality transformation relating the nine spaces. The derivation of the single basic trigonometric equation at group level, its translation to a set of equations (cosine, sine and dual cosine laws) and the natural apparition of angular and lateral excesses, area and coarea are explicitly discussed in detail. The exposition also aims to introduce the main ideas of this direct group theoretical way to trigonometry, and may well provide a path to systematically study trigonometry for any homogeneous symmetric space.