Related papers: Causally pathological spacetimes are physically re…
We consider a conformal system of a string and a particle defined in D=10+2 space-time dimensions. The extra time-like dimension is a gauge artifact and can be eliminated by choosing a gauge in which the SO(10,1) Lorentz symmetry is…
In this second paper, I construct a limit space of a Cauchy sequence of globally hyperbolic spacetimes. In the second section, I work gradually towards a construction of the limit space. I prove the limit space is unique up to isometry. I…
Beginning with a review of the arguments leading to the so-called c=1 barrier in the continuum formulation of noncritical string theory, the pathology is then exhibited in a discretized version of the theory, formulated through dynamical…
A model-independent, locally generally covariant formulation of quantum field theory over four-dimensional, globally hyperbolic spacetimes will be given which generalizes similar, previous approaches. Here, a generally covariant quantum…
It is shown that in the 4d Euclidean space there are two causal structures defined by the temporal field. One of them is well-known Minkowski spacetime. In this case the gravitational potential (the positive definite Riemann metric) and…
The weakly coupled vacuum of $E_8\otimes E_8$ heterotic string theory remains an attractive scenario for phenomenolgy and cosmology. The particle spectrum is reviewed and the issues of gauge coupling unification, dilaton stabilization and…
We investigate the appearance of closed timelike curves in quotients of plane waves along spacelike isometries. First we formulate a necessary and sufficient condition for a quotient of a general spacetime to preserve stable causality. We…
Causal set theory is a discrete model of spacetime that retains a notion of causal structure. We understand how to construct causal sets that approximate a given spacetime, but most causal sets are not at all manifold-like, and must be…
Field theories based on non-commutative spacetimes exhibit very distinctive nonlocal effects which mix the ultraviolet with the infrared in bizarre ways. In particular if the time coordinate is involved in the non-commutativity the theory…
It is shown that there are static spacetimes with timelike curvature singularities which appear completely nonsingular when probed with quantum test particles. Examples include extreme dilatonic black holes and the fundamental string…
The hypothesis that the causal properties of space-time, as well as other properties of physical systems like unitarity, charge conservation, etc., might be decided by the higher dimensional structure (in particular, higher-dimensional…
The notion of causal boundary $\partial M$ for a strongly causal spacetime $M$ has been a controversial topic along last decades: on one hand, some attempted definitions were not fully consistent, on the other, there were simple examples…
The matrix model formulation of two dimensional string theory has been shown to admit time dependent classical solutions whose closed string duals are geodesically incomplete space-times with space-like boundaries. We investigate some…
We discuss how, in a Universe restricted to the causal region connected to the observer, General Relativity implies the quantum nature of physical phenomena and directly leads to a string theory scenario, whose dynamics is ruled by a…
In ordinary, non-relativistic, quantum physics, time enters only as a parameter and not as an observable: a state of a physical system is specified at a given time and then evolved according to the prescribed dynamics. While the state can,…
String theory can (in principle) describe gravity at all curvature scales, and can be applied to cosmology to look back in time beyond the Planck epoch. The duality symmetries of string theory suggest a cosmological picture in which the…
We investigate the causal structure of spacetimes $(M, g)$ for which the metric $g$ is singular on a set of points.
The spacetime physics of bulk closed string tachyon condensation is studied at the level of a two-derivative effective action. We derive the unique perturbative tachyon potential consistent with a full class of linearized tachyonic…
Many solutions of General Relativity appear to allow the possibility of time travel. This was initially a fascinating discovery, but geometries of this type violate causality, a basic physical law which is believed to be fundamental.…
We prove that the space of causal curves between compact subsets of a separable globally hyperbolic poset is itself compact in the Vietoris topology. Although this result implies the usual result in general relativity, its proof does not…