T-buffer: fast visualization of relativistic effects in space-time

Abstract

We have developed an innovative ray-tracing simulation algorithm to describe R elativistic E ffects in S pace T ime ("REST"). Our algorithm, called REST-frame , models light rays that have assumed infinite speed in conventional ray-tracing to have a finite speed in spacetime, and uses the non-Newtonian Lorentz Transformation to relate measurements of a single event in different inertial coordinate systems (inertial frames) . Our earlier work [5][6][7] explored the power of REST-frame as an experimentation tool to study the rich visual properties in natural world modeled by Special Relativity. Non-intuitive images of the anisotropic deformation ("warping") of space, the intensity concentration/spreading of light sources in spacetime, and the relativistic Doppler shift were visualized from our simulations.