Related papers: No time machines in classical general relativity
In general relativity, the picture of spacetime assigns an ideal clock to each worldline. Being ideal, gravitational effects due to these clocks are ignored and the flow of time according to one clock is not affected by the presence of…
General Relativity traces the evolution of our Universe back to a Big Bang singularity. To probe physics before the singularity -- if indeed there is a ``before'' -- we must turn to quantum gravity. The Causal Set approach to quantum…
In this review paper, we consider the fundamental nature of time and causality, most particularly, in the context of the theories of special and general relativity. We also discuss the issue of closed timelike curves in the context of…
We present a class of curved-spacetime vacuum solutions which develope closed timelike curves at some particular moment. We then use these vacuum solutions to construct a time-machine model. The causality violation occurs inside an empty…
The expression of causality depends on an underlying choice of chronology. Since a chronology is provided by any Lorentzian metric in relativistic theories, there are as many expressions of causality as there are non-conformally related…
The conceptual definition and understanding of the nature of time, both qualitatively and quantitatively is of the utmost difficulty and importance, and plays a fundamental role in physics. Physical systems seem to evolve in paths of…
The Kerr-star spacetime is the extension over the horizons and in the negative radial region of the Kerr spacetime. Despite the presence of closed timelike curves below the inner horizon, we prove that the timelike geodesics cannot be…
Most approaches to quantum gravity suggest that relativistic spacetime is not fundamental, but instead emerges from some non-spatiotemporal structure. This paper investigates the implications of this suggestion for the possibility of time…
We study the causal structure of a class of weakly nonlocal gravitational theories (eventually coupled to matter) that are compatible with perturbative unitarity and finiteness at quantum level. In particular, we show that in nonlocal…
We present 2 recent results on the problems of time and observables in canonical gravity. (1) We cannot use parametrized field theory to solve the problem of time because, strictly speaking, general relativity is not a parametrized field…
Beginning with the principle that a closed mechanical composite system is timeless, time can be defined by the regular changes in a suitable position coordinate (clock) in the observing part, when one part of the closed composite observes…
The basic tenet of the present work is the assumption of the lack of external and fixed time in the Universe. This assumption is best embodied by general relativity, which replaces the fixed space-time structure with the gravitational…
We present an axiomatic framework for non-relativistic classical particle mechanics, inspired on Tati's ideas about a non-space-time description for physics. The main advantage of our picture is that it allows us to describe causality…
We present a scenario in $1 + 1$ and $3 + 1$ dimensional space time which is paradoxical in the presence of a time machine. We show that the paradox cannot be resolved and the scenario has {\em no} consistent classical solution. Since the…
A theory governing the metric and matter fields in spacetime is {\it locally causal} if the probability distribution for the fields in any region is determined solely by physical data in the region's past, i.e. it is independent of events…
Examples are given of the creation of closed timelike curves by choices of coordinate identifications. Following G\"odel's prescription, it is seen that flat spacetime can produce closed timelike curves with structure similar to that of…
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…
The building of a time machine, if possible at all, requires the relevant regions of spacetime to be compact (that is, physically speaking, free from sources of unpredictability such as infinities and singularities). Motivated by this…
Time plays a crucial role in the performance of computing systems. The accurate modelling of logical devices, and of their physical implementations, requires an appropriate representation of time and of all properties that depend on this…
We apply the causal interpretation of quantum mechanics to homogeneous quantum cosmology and show that the quantum theory is independent of any time-gauge choice and there is no issue of time. We exemplify this result by studying a…