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Related papers: The future is not always open

200 papers

We provide a unified operational framework for the study of causality, non-locality and contextuality, in a fully device-independent and theory-independent setting. Our work has its roots in the sheaf-theoretic framework for contextuality…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-07-31 Stefano Gogioso , Nicola Pinzani

We consider Lorentzian General Relativity in a cavity with a timelike boundary, with conformal boundary conditions and also a generalization of these boundary conditions. We focus on the linearized gravitational dynamics about the static…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2025-07-04 Xiaoyi Liu , Harvey S. Reall , Jorge E. Santos , Toby Wiseman

In this short note we review some known results on the structure and regularity of spaces with lower Ricci curvature bounds. We present some known and new open questions about next steps.

Differential Geometry · Mathematics 2020-10-27 Aaron Naber

We develop a new approach to the existence of time functions on Lorentzian manifolds, based on Conley's work regarding Lyapunov functions for dynamical systems. We recover Hawking's result that a stably causal admits a time function through…

Differential Geometry · Mathematics 2016-03-24 Daniel Monclair

We prove that a globally hyperbolic smooth spacetime endowed with a $\smash{\mathrm{C}^1}$-Lorentzian metric whose Ricci tensor is bounded from below in all timelike directions, in a distributional sense, obeys the timelike…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2023-10-10 Mathias Braun , Matteo Calisti

A brief overview of some open questions in general relativity with important consequences for causality theory is presented, aiming to a better understanding of the causal structure of the spacetime. Special attention is accorded to the…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2016-01-28 E. M. Howard

In general relativity, time functions are crucial objects whose existence and properties are intimately tied to the causal structure of a spacetime and also to the initial value formulation of the Einstein equations. In this work we…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2025-05-14 Annegret Burtscher , Leonardo García-Heveling

Drawing from the theory of optimal transport we propose a rigorous notion of a causal relation for Borel probability measures on a given spacetime. To prepare the ground, we explore the borderland between causality, topology and measure…

Mathematical Physics · Physics 2020-12-21 Michał Eckstein , Tomasz Miller

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…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2019-10-31 Ämin Baumeler , Fabio Costa , Timothy C. Ralph , Stefan Wolf , Magdalena Zych

The causal closure of physics is usually discussed in a context free way. Here I discuss it in the context of engineering systems and biology, where strong emergence takes place due to a combination of upwards emergence and downwards…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2020-10-28 George F R Ellis

This paper presents an brief review of some recent work on the causal set approach to quantum gravity. Causal sets are a discretisation of spacetime that allow the symmetries of GR to be preserved in the continuum approximation. One…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2010-03-31 Joe Henson

The fundamental theories of physics are local theories, depending on local interactions of local variables. It is not clear if and how strictly local theories can produce non-local variables that have causal effectiveness. Yet, non-local…

Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems · Physics 2015-11-06 J. H. van Hateren

It has previously been shown [W. Rudnicki, Phys. Lett. A 224, 45 (1996)] that a generic gravitational collapse cannot result in a naked singularity accompanied by closed timelike curves. An important role in this result plays the so-called…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2009-10-31 W. Rudnicki , P. Zieba

We prove a globally hyperbolic spacetime with locally Lipschitz continuous metric and timelike distributional Ricci curvature bounded from below obeys the timelike measure contraction property. The remarkable class of examples of spacetimes…

Differential Geometry · Mathematics 2026-03-26 Mathias Braun , Marta Sálamo Candal

By definition a spacetime is stably causal if it is possible to widen the light cones all over the spacetime without spoiling causality. We prove that if the spacetime is at least non-total imprisoning then it is stably causal provided the…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2009-08-12 E. Minguzzi , M. Rinaldelli

We construct a Lorentzian length space with an orthogonal splitting on a product $I\times X$ of an interval and a metric space, and use this framework to consider the relationship between metric and causal geometry, as well as synthetic…

Differential Geometry · Mathematics 2023-11-20 Elefterios Soultanis

We investigate the local regularity of pointed spacetimes, that is, time-oriented Lorentzian manifolds in which a point and a future-oriented, unit timelike vector (an observer) are selected. Our main result covers the class of Einstein…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2015-05-13 Bing-Long Chen , Philippe G. LeFloch

Motivated by the classical Euler elastic curves, David A. Singer posed in 1999 the problem of determining a plane curve whose curvature is given in terms of its position. We propound the same question in Lorentz-Minkowski plane, focusing on…

Differential Geometry · Mathematics 2018-06-26 Ildefonso Castro , Ildefonso Castro-Infantes , Jesús Castro-Infantes

Many solutions of Einstein's field equations contain closed timelike curves (CTC). Some of these solutions refer to ordinary materials in situations which might occur in the laboratory, or in astrophysics. It is argued that, in default of a…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2009-11-07 W. B. Bonnor

Causal set theory is an intrinsically nonlocal approach to quantum gravity, inheriting its nonlocality from Lorentzian nonlocality. This nonlocality causes problems in defining differential operators -- such as the d'Alembert operator, a…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2025-06-24 Marián Boguñá , Dmitri Krioukov