Intuitively, a Cauchy surface is a plane in space-time which is like an instant of time; its significance is that giving the initial conditions on this plane determines the future (and the past) uniquely.
More precisely, a Cauchy surface is any subset of space-time which is intersected by every non-spacelike, inextensible curve, i.e. any causal curve, exactly once.
A partial Cauchy surface is a hypersurface which is intersected by any causal curve at most once.
The name is for Augustin Louis Cauchy.
Read more about Cauchy Surface: Discussion, Cauchy Horizon
Famous quotes containing the word surface:
“How easily it falls, how easily I let drift
On the surface of morning feathers of self-reproach:
How easily I disperse the scolding of snow.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)