English

The future is not always open

Differential Geometry 2021-06-15 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We demonstrate the breakdown of several fundamentals of Lorentzian causality theory in low regularity. Most notably, chronological futures (defined naturally using locally Lipschitz curves) may be non-open, and may differ from the corresponding sets defined via piecewise C1C^1-curves. By refining the notion of a causal bubble from [CG:12],we characterize spacetimes for which such phenomena can occur, and also relate these to the possibility of deforming causal curves of positive length into timelike curves (push-up). The phenomena described here are, in particular, relevant for recent synthetic approaches to low regularity Lorentzian geometry where, in the absence of a differentiable structure, causality has to be based on locally Lipschitz curves.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1901.07996,
  title  = {The future is not always open},
  author = {James D. E. Grant and Michael Kunzinger and Clemens Sämann and Roland Steinbauer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1901.07996},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Minor amendments. Final version. 17 pages, 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T07:19:59.658Z