Related papers: A Finite State Model for Time Travel

While the possibility of time travel in physics is still debated, the explosive growth of virtual-reality simulations opens up new possibilities to rigorously explore such time travel and its consequences in the digital domain. Here we…

We introduce a quantum mechanical model of time travel which includes two figurative beam splitters in order to induce feedback to earlier times. This leads to a unique solution to the paradox where one could kill one's grandfather in that…

If time travel is possible, it seems to inevitably lead to paradoxes. These include consistency paradoxes, such as the famous grandfather paradox, and bootstrap paradoxes, where something is created out of nothing. One proposed class of…

Because closed timelike curves are consistent with general relativity, many have asserted that time travel into the past is physically possible if not technologically infeasible. However, the possibility of time travel into the past rests…

Paradoxes that can supposedly occur if a time machine is created are discussed. It is shown that the existence of trajectories of ``multiplicity zero'' (i.e. trajectories that describe a ball hitting its younger self so that the latter…

The Einstein equations allow solutions containing closed timelike curves. These have generated much puzzlement and suspicion that they could imply paradoxes. I show that puzzlement and paradoxes disappears if we discuss carefully the…

We define the time travel paradox in physical terms and prove its existence by constructing an explicit example. We argue further that in theories -- such as general relativity -- where the spacetime geometry is subject to nothing but…

It is claimed in the above paper that, if time travel were possible, quantum propagation would prevent classic time travel paradoxes by establishing consistent loops; an example circuit is used to demonstrate such a loop. It is argued here…

The closed causal chains arising from backward time travel do not lead to paradoxes if they are self consistent. This raises the question as to how physics ensures that only self-consistent loops are possible. We show that, for one…

We consider two approaches to evading paradoxes in quantum mechanics with closed timelike curves (CTCs). In a model similar to Politzer's, assuming pure states and using path integrals, we show that the problems of paradoxes and of…

The quantum teleportation protocol can be used to probabilistically simulate a quantum circuit with backward-in-time connections. This allows us to analyze some conceptual problems of time travel in the context of physically realizable…

The theory of general relativity predicts the existence of closed time-like curves (CTCs), which theoretically would allow an observer to travel back in time and interact with their past self. This raises the question of whether this could…

The fact that closed timelike curves (CTCs) are permitted by general relativity raises the question as to how quantum systems behave when time travel to the past occurs. Research into answering this question by utilising the quantum circuit…

For time travel to be consistent with the known laws of physics, the resulting paradoxes must be resolved. It has been suggested that parallel timelines (a.k.a. multiple histories) may provide a resolution. However, so far, a concrete…

Time machines are predictions of Einstein's theory of general relativity and provide a myriad of unsolved paradoxes. Convincing and general arguments against time machines and their paradoxes are missing in physics and philosophy so far. In…

General relativity predicts the existence of closed timelike curves (CTCs), along which an object could travel to its own past. A consequence of CTCs is the failure of determinism, even for classical systems: one initial condition can…

I argue that Deutsch's model for the behavior of systems traveling around closed timelike curves (CTCs) relies implicitly on a substantive metaphysical assumption. Deutsch is employing a version of quantum theory with a significantly…

General relativity allows for the existence of closed time-like curves, along which a material object could travel back in time and interact with its past self. This possibility raises the question whether certain initial conditions, or…

To travel into the past, to observe it, perhaps to influence it and correct mistakes of one's youth, has been an abiding fantasy of mankind for as long as we have been aware of a past. Here are described some recent scientific…

Closed timelike curves (CTCs) are trajectories in spacetime that effectively travel backwards in time: a test particle following a CTC can in principle interact with its former self in the past. CTCs appear in many solutions of Einstein's…