In geometry, the hyperboloid model, also known as the Minkowski model or the Lorentz model (after Hermann Minkowski and Hendrik Lorentz), is a model of n-dimensional hyperbolic geometry in which points are represented by the points on the forward sheet S+ of a two-sheeted hyperboloid in (n+1)-dimensional Minkowski space and m-planes are represented by the intersections of the (m+1)-planes in Minkowski space with S+. The hyperbolic distance function admits a simple expression in this model. The hyperboloid model of the n-dimensional hyperbolic space is closely related to the Beltrami–Klein model and to the Poincaré disk model as they are projective models in the sense that the isometry group is a subgroup of the projective group.
If (x0, x1, …, xn) is a vector in the (n + 1)-dimensional coordinate space Rn+1, the Minkowski quadratic form is defined to be
The vectors v ∈ Rn+1 such that Q(v) = 1 form an n-dimensional hyperboloid S consisting of two connected components, or sheets: the forward, or future, sheet S+, where x0>0 and the backward, or past, sheet S−, where x0<0. The points of the n-dimensional hyperboloid model are the points on the forward sheet S+.
The Minkowski bilinear form B is the polarization of the Minkowski quadratic form Q,
Explicitly,