On the Threefold Spacetime Forms Corresponding to Velocity Tiers: Flat, Mapping Distortion, and Spacetime Folding

Author: Zhang Suhang, Luoyang, Henan

I. Introduction

Humanity's cognition of spacetime geometry has always been constrained by its own observational conditions and velocity tiers.

Ancient humans had extremely low motion speeds and narrow observational ranges, and thus naturally adapted to a flat, uniform, and fixed Euclidean geometric spacetime. With the development of modern science and technology, human motion speeds and observational precision have increased greatly, and the traditional flat spacetime view can no longer explain high-speed physical phenomena. Length contraction and time dilation thus entered humanity's field of vision.

Past physics only described the phenomena of these effects and deduced mathematical formulas, but never established an essential correspondence between velocity tiers and spacetime forms, nor did it distinguish between apparent distortion and ontological changes in spacetime.

This paper establishes a core postulate: taking the universe as the object of study, spacetime is an inherent physical property of the universe itself, and the external manifest form of this physical property is directly related to the relative velocity between the observing system and the moving system.

Based on this postulate, this paper establishes a three-tier progressive spacetime system: the low-speed flat form, the sub-light-speed mapping distortion form, and the superluminal spacetime folding form. It further points out that length contraction and time dilation are merely low-dimensional representational mappings of higher-dimensional spacetime in the sub-light-speed range, and are not the ultimate form of spacetime ontology.

II. Underlying Postulate: Spacetime as an Inherent Property of the Universe, Its Form Manifesting According to Velocity

Spacetime is not an empty stage independent of matter and detached from the universe, but an inherent physical property of the universe as a whole.

This property is not rigidly fixed, nor is it an eternal, single, flat structure. The geometric form, metric rules, and manner of manifestation of cosmic spacetime will present completely different physical appearances depending on the tier of the subject's relative motion speed.

Velocity is not merely a motion parameter, but a conditional threshold that unlocks different geometric forms of spacetime.

From this, all human spacetime cognition can be unified:

Low speed corresponds to flat spacetime, high speed corresponds to mapping distortion, and superluminal speed corresponds to ontological folding.

All spacetime effects are the natural manifestations of the universe's inherent spacetime properties at different velocity tiers.

III. The First Tier: The Low-Speed System—Euclidean Flat Spacetime

In the macroscopic low-speed motion range, the relative velocity threshold is extremely low, and the deep geometric characteristics of cosmic spacetime do not manifest.

At this time, space extends uniformly and is flat in all directions, time flows uniformly and stably, space undergoes no distortion, and measurement undergoes no deviation. The entire world fully conforms to Euclidean geometric rules.

This is the basic normal form presented by cosmic spacetime under low-speed conditions, and it is also the intuitive appearance of the everyday sensory world of humanity.

IV. The Second Tier: The Sub-Light-Speed System—Length Contraction and Time Dilation as Low-Dimensional Mapping Distortion

When the motion speed of an object increases greatly and approaches the speed of light, entering the high-speed tier, flat geometry no longer applies. The Lorentz transformation takes effect, and length contraction and time dilation effects appear simultaneously.

Traditional physics regards these as structural changes in spacetime ontology. This paper offers a completely new and fundamental interpretation:

Length contraction and time dilation are not structural deformations of spacetime ontology, but rather low-dimensional projection distortions of the universe's higher-order spacetime structure under sub-light-speed observational dimensions.

Their essence is the comparative observational effect brought about by relative motion between reference frames:

Within the reference frame itself, spacetime is entirely normal, with no real deformation whatsoever; only when observed across reference frames do spacetime measurements show synchronous deviation.

Combined with this paper's core theory that spacetime is of the same origin and that time depends on space:

When spatial measurement undergoes mapping distortion, the temporal measurement that depends on space and arises from it must undergo synchronous distortion. Therefore, length contraction and time dilation are always in the same direction, always coexistent, and inseparable.

The spacetime changes at this tier are representational, mapping-based, and superficial; the topology of spacetime ontology has not changed.

V. The Third Tier: The Superluminal System—True Ontological Folding of Spacetime

When motion speed breaks through the threshold of light speed and leaves the sub-light-speed mapping range, shallow observational distortion no longer occurs.

This paper proposes an original conjecture:

Superluminal motion can break through conventional spacetime measurement rules and trigger a topological reconstruction of the ontology of cosmic spacetime, producing spacetime folding in the true sense.

At this time, the change in spacetime is no longer a mapping illusion caused by differences in perspective, but a deep intrinsic change in the inherent physical properties of cosmic spacetime: the spatial structure undergoes folding and distortion, and time, because of its innate property of depending on space, folds and reconstructs synchronously with space.

If length contraction and time dilation are the "surface mirror" of spacetime, then spacetime folding is the "underlying true nature" of spacetime.

VI. The Complete Three-Tier Progressive Spacetime System

Relying on the law of velocity manifestation of cosmic spacetime, this paper establishes a completely self-consistent new system of spacetime cognition:

1. Low-speed tier—flat spacetime (Euclidean geometry)

   Cosmic spacetime presents a basic flat form, with no distortion, no mapping, and no folding.

2. Sub-light-speed tier—mapping distortion (relativistic effects)

   Spacetime ontology remains unchanged; only low-dimensional observational projection deviation occurs, namely the same-direction effect of length contraction and time dilation.

3. Superluminal tier—ontological folding (a completely new spacetime form)

   A deep topological structural change of cosmic spacetime is triggered, achieving true spacetime folding.

VII. Conclusion

Spacetime is not a constant and preset framework, but a dynamic physical property inherent to the universe.

Its manifest form strictly depends on the velocity tier of motion and observation.

For a hundred years, physics has been confined to the study of the first two spacetime forms,mistaking the low-dimensional mapping distortion of the sub-light-speed range for the essence of spacetime.

In reality: length contraction and time dilation are merely the shallow surface appearance of high-speed spacetime, while spacetime folding is the deeper and more fundamental physical form of cosmic spacetime.

From flat, to mapping, to folding, this is the complete cognitive path by which humanity penetrates appearances and gradually approaches the essence of cosmic spacetime.