Constructing Time Machines

DOI10.1142/S0217751X03015118zbMATH Open1032.83004arXivgr-qc/0210048MaRDI QIDQ4433487FDOQ4433487

Authors: Graham M. Shore 

Publication date: 29 October 2003

Published in: International Journal of Modern Physics A (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The existence of time machines, understood as spacetime constructions exhibiting physically realised closed timelike curves (CTCs), would raise fundamental problems with causality and challenge our current understanding of classical and quantum theories of gravity. In this paper, we investigate three proposals for time machines which share some common features: cosmic strings in relative motion, where the conical spacetime appears to allow CTCs; colliding gravitational shock waves, which in Aichelburg-Sexl coordinates imply discontinuous geodesics; and the superluminal propagation of light in gravitational radiation metrics in a modified electrodynamics featuring violations of the strong equivalence principle. While we show that ultimately none of these constructions creates a working time machine, their study illustrates the subtle levels at which causal self-consistency imposes itself, and we consider what intuition can be drawn from these examples for future theories.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0210048

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zbMATH Keywords

causalityshock wavesgeneral relativityquantum theorycosmic stringstime machinesclosed signal trajectories

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10) String and superstring theories in gravitational theory (83E30) Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to relativity and gravitational theory (83-02)

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Cited In (21)

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• Closed timelike curves and quantum gravity
• Building Enduring Objects Out of Spacetime
• Time machines and quantum theory
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• A time machine for free fall into the past
• TIME MACHINE AT THE LHC
• General relativity from causality
• Physical and stable closed time-like curves
• PHYSICS IN THE PRESENCE OF A TIME MACHINE
• Non-Gödel time machine
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Do the laws of physics forbid the operation of time machines?
• Closed timelike curves and time travel: dispelling the myth
• An obstacle to building a time machine
• The Maslov index and some applications to dispersion relations in curved space times
• Memory, Penrose limits and the geometry of gravitational shockwaves and gyratons
• The time maschine and general relativity
• Can a circulating light beam produce a time machine
• Back-in-time and faster-than-light travel in general relativity
• Must time-machine construction violate the weak energy condition?

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