Related papers: Causally pathological spacetimes are physically re…
The group of conformal diffeomorphisms and the group of causal automorphisms on two-dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetimes are clarified. It is shown that if spacetimes have non-compact Cauchy surfaces, then the groups are subgroups of…
String theory is canonically accompanied with a space-time interpretation which determines S-matrix-like observables, and connects to the standard physics at low energies in the guise of local effective field theory. Recently, we have…
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…
The strong coupling limit of a quantum system is in general quite complicated, but in some cases a great simplification occurs: the strongly coupled limit is equivalent to the weakly coupled limit of some other system. In string theory…
Three subjects are considered here: a self-dual non-critical string that appears in Type IIB superstring theory at points in ${\rm K3}$ moduli space where the Type IIA theory has extended gauge symmetry; a conformal field theory singularity…
As shown by Gott, a pair of straight cosmic strings moving in opposite directions, when they have suitable speed and impact parameter, produce closed timelike curves. I argue in this paper that there always is a not-so-frightening…
We review various aspects of de Sitter spacetime in string theory: its status as an effective field theory spacetime solution, its relation to the vacuum energy problem in string theory, its (global) holographic definition in terms of two…
A reflexive relation on a set can be a starting point in defining the causal structure of a spacetime in General Relativity and other relativistic theories of gravity. If we identify this relation as the relation between lightlike separated…
We construct a family of hyperbolic string vertices in the oriented open-closed string field theory, generalizing the recent result on hyperbolic closed string vertices by Costello and Zwiebach. The vertices are described by certain…
There is a deep structural link between acausal spacetimes and quantum theory. As a consequence quantum theory may resolve some "paradoxes" of time travel. Conversely, non-time-orientable spacetimes naturally give rise to electric charges…
We consider an exotic `compactification' of spacetime in which there are two infinite extra dimensions, using a global string instead of a domain wall. By having a negative cosmological constant we prove the existence of a nonsingular…
Recent progress on the complete set of solutions of two dimensional classical string theory in any curved spacetime is reviewed. When the curvature is smooth the string solutions are deformed folded string solutions as compared to flat…
We consider the spacetime dynamics of a gas of closed strings in the context of General Relativity in a background of arbitrary spatial dimensions. Our motivation is primarily late time String Gas Cosmology, where such a spacetime picture…
We start from a quantum computational principle suggested for string theory in a previous paper and discuss how it might lead to a dynamical principle implying the correct classical gravitational limit. Besides this, we briefly look at some…
The modes of vibration of hanging and partially supported strings provide useful analogies to scalar fields travelling through spacetimes that admit conformally flat spatial sections. This wide class of spacetimes includes static,…
Some problems of the space-time causal structure are discussed using models with traversable wormholes. For this purpose the conditions of traversable wormhole matching with the exterior space-time are considered in detail and a mixed…
In the first part of this work we show a uniqueness result for globally hyperbolic spacetimes with a spacelike conformal boundary satisfying the vacuum Einstein equations with positive cosmological constant. Then we present applications of…
Time-dependent solutions of supergravity and string theory are studied. The examples are obtained from de Sitter deformation of gauge/gravity dualities, analytical continuation of static solutions, and ``exactly solvable'' worldsheet…
We investigate structure that describes physical data in gravitational systems that is, to one degree or another, independent of the metric and affine structure. We dub such structure surplus structure and seek to incorporate it into our…
The causal boundary construction of Geroch, Kronheimer, and Penrose has some universal properties of importance for general studies of spacetimes, particularly when equipped with a topology derived from the causal structure. Properties of…