Related papers: A Simple Minkowskian Time-Travel Spacetime

Geodesic orbit equations in the Schwarzschild geometry of general relativity reduce to ordinary conic sections of Newtonian mechanics and gravity for material particles in the non-relativistic limit. On the contrary, geodesic orbit…

Space and time are central concepts for understanding our World. They are important ingredients at the core of every scientific theory and subject of intense debate in philosophy. Albert Einstein's Special and General theories of Relativity…

Global time is a gauge or relational choice of time variable in canonical gravity. Local time is the time used in a flat patch of spacetime. We compare the dynamics of a scalar field with respect to choices of global time and Minkowski…

In this two-part essay, we distinguish several senses in which general relativity has been regarded as "locally special relativistic". Here, in Part 1, we focus on senses in which a relativistic spacetime has been said to be "locally…

With the theory of special relativity, time has been linked with space into a four-dimensional space-time from which a basic question must be asked: can space be really transformed into time and vice-versa? The response is affirmative if…

We refine and analytically prove an old proposition due to Calabi and Markus on the shape of timelike geodesics of anti--de Sitter space in the ambient flat space. We prove that each timelike geodesic forms in the ambient space a circle of…

Timelike geodesics on a hyperplane orthogonal to the symmetry axis of the G\"odel spacetime appear to be elliptic-like if standard coordinates naturally adapted to the cylindrical symmetry are used. The orbit can then be suitably described…

We show that for generic sliced spacetimes global hyperbolicity is equivalent to space completeness under the assumption that the lapse, shift and spatial metric are uniformly bounded. This leads us to the conclusion that simple sliced…

Time-like and space-like invariant space-time intervals are used to analyse measurements of spatial and temporal distances defined by two spatially-separated clocks. The time dilatation effect is confirmed, but not `relativity of…

The motion of particles on spherical $1 + 3$ dimensional spacetimes can, under some assumptions, be described by the curves on a 2-dimensional manifold, the optical and Jacobi manifolds for null and timelike curves, respectively. In this…

Two questions are investigated by looking successively at classical mechanics, special relativity, and relativistic gravity: first, how is space related with spacetime? The proposed answer is that each given reference fluid, that is a…

At first we introduce the space-time manifold and we compare some aspects of Riemannian and Lorentzian geometry such as the distance function and the relations between topology and curvature. We then define spinor structures in general…

The Block Universe idea, representing spacetime as a fixed whole, suggests the flow of time is an illusion: the entire universe just is, with no special meaning attached to the present time. This view is however based on time-reversible…

This article deals with empty spacetime and the question of its physical reality. By "empty spacetime" we mean a collection of bare spacetime points, the remains of ridding spacetime of all matter and fields. We ask whether these geometric…

Several calculations in conformally static spacetimes rely on the introduction of an ultrastatic background. I describe the general properties of ultrastatic spacetimes, and then focus on the problem of whether a given spacetime can be…

With special relativity, we seem to be facing a conundrum. It is a very well-tested theory; in this way, the Minkowski spacetime must be "capturing" essential features of space and time. However, its geometry seems to be incompatible with…

The spacetime of Ho and Weiler [Phys. Rev. D {\bf 87}, 045004 (2013)] supposedly admitting closed timelike curves (CTCs) is flat Minkowski spacetime with a compactified coordinate and can only contain CTCs if the compact direction is chosen…

A deformation of special relativistic kinematics (possible signal of a theory of quantum gravity at low energies) leads to a modification of the notion of spacetime. At the classical level, this modification is required when one considers a…

Flat space-time has not heretofore been thought a suitable locus in which to construct model universes because of the presumed necessity of incorporating gravitation in such models and because of the historical lack of a theory of…

Numerical simulations of the approach to the singularity in vacuum spacetimes are presented here. The spacetimes examined have no symmetries and can be regarded as representing the general behavior of singularities. It is found that the…