Continuous space-time transformations

Abstract

We prove that every continuous map acting on the four-dimensional Minkowski space and preserving light cones in one direction only is either a Poincar\'e similarity, that is, a product of a Lorentz transformation and a dilation, or it is of a very special degenerate form. In the presence of the continuity assumption the main tool in the proof is a basic result from the homotopy theory of spheres.