Existence and uniqueness theorems for massless fields on a class of spacetimes with closed timelike curves

DOI10.1007/S002200050118MaRDI QIDQ1364569zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Michael S. Morris, John L. Friedman

Publication date 23 October 1997

Published in Communications in Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9411033

zbMATH Keywords

massless scalar fielduniqueness theoremwormholespacetimesclosed timelike curvesasymptotically flat spacetimesexistence of smooth solutionsCauchy problem for free fieldsrestricted uniqueness theorem

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of global differential geometry to the sciences (53C80) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Space-time singularities, cosmic censorship, etc. (83C75)

Abstract: We study the massless scalar field on asymptotically flat spacetimes with closed timelike curves (CTC's), in which all future-directed CTC's traverse one end of a handle (wormhole) and emerge from the other end at an earlier time. For a class of static geometries of this type, and for smooth initial data with all derivatives in $L_2$ on ${cI}^{-}$, we prove existence of smooth solutions which are regular at null and spatial infinity (have finite energy and finite $L_2$-norm) and have the given initial data on $c{I}^{-}$. A restricted uniqueness theorem is obtained, applying to solutions that fall off in time at any fixed spatial position. For a complementary class of spacetimes in which CTC's are confined to a compact region, we show that when solutions exist they are unique in regions exterior to the CTC's. (We believe that more stringent uniqueness theorems hold, and that the present limitations are our own.) An extension of these results to Maxwell fields and massless spinor fields is sketched. Finally, we discuss a conjecture that the Cauchy problem for free fields is well defined in the presence of CTC's whenever the problem is well-posed in the geometric-optics limit. We provide some evidence in support of this conjecture, and we present counterexamples that show that neither existence nor uniqueness is guaranteed under weaker conditions. In particular, both existence and uniqueness can fail in smooth, asymptotically flat spacetimes with a compact nonchronal region.

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