No Arabic abstract
I give a historical survey of the discussions about the existence of closed timelike curves in general relativistic models of the universe, opening the physical possibility of time travel in the past, as first recognized by K. Godel in his rotating universe model of 1949. I emphasize that journeying into the past is intimately linked to spacetime models devoid of timelike singularities. Since such singularities arise as an inevitable consequence of the equations of general relativity given physically reasonable assumptions, time travel in the past becomes possible only when one or another of these assumptions is violated. It is the case with wormhole-type solutions. S. Hawking and other authors have tried to save the paradoxical consequences of time travel in the past by advocating physical mechanisms of chronological protection; however, such mechanisms remain presently unknown, even when quantum fluctuations near horizons are taken into account. I close the survey by a brief and pedestrian discussion of Causal Dynamical Triangulations, an approach to quantum gravity in which causality plays a seminal role.
In this article, we explore the relationship between the existence of closed timelike curves and energy conditions that occur in the Kerr-Newman spacetime. To quantify the dependence, we define a correlation index between energy conditions and closed timelike curves. Based on the inputs from Hawkings chronology protection conjecture, we analyze two popular variants of Kerr-Newman spacetime: Non-commutative and Rastall Kerr-Newman spacetimes. These two models provide complementary scenarios that aid in analyzing Hawkings statements regarding the correlation of closed timelike curves and energy conditions from a local and a global perspective. We report the results outlining the possible role played by violations of energy conditions in eliminating the closed timelike curves in two contrasting situations, namely in spacetimes with and without curvature singularities.
We present an idealised model of gravitational collapse, describing a collapsing rotating cylindrical shell of null dust in flat space, with the metric of a spinning cosmic string as the exterior. We find that the shell bounces before closed timelike curves can be formed. Our results also suggest slightly different definitions for the mass and angular momentum of the string.
In general relativity, closed timelike curves can break causality with remarkable and unsettling consequences. At the classical level, they induce causal paradoxes disturbing enough to motivate conjectures that explicitly prevent their existence. At the quantum level, resolving such paradoxes induce radical benefits - from cloning unknown quantum states to solving problems intractable to quantum computers. Instinctively, one expects these benefits to vanish if causality is respected. Here we show that in harnessing entanglement, we can efficiently solve NP-complete problems and clone arbitrary quantum states - even when all time-travelling systems are completely isolated from the past. Thus, the many defining benefits of closed timelike curves can still be harnessed, even when causality is preserved. Our results unveil the subtle interplay between entanglement and general relativity, and significantly improve the potential of probing the radical effects that may exist at the interface between relativity and quantum theory.
The linear stability of closed timelike geodesics (CTGs) is analyzed in two spacetimes with cylindrical sources, an infinite rotating dust cylinder, and a cylindrical cloud of static cosmic strings with a central spinning string. We also study the existence and linear stability of closed timelike curves in spacetimes that share some common features with the Godel universe (Godel-type spacetimes). In this case the existence of CTGs depends on the `background metric. The CTGs in a subclass of inhomogeneous stationary cosmological solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations with topology $ S^3times mathbb R$ are also examined.
Closed timelike curves are among the most controversial features of modern physics. As legitimate solutions to Einsteins field equations, they allow for time travel, which instinctively seems paradoxical. However, in the quantum regime these paradoxes can be resolved leaving closed timelike curves consistent with relativity. The study of these systems therefore provides valuable insight into non-linearities and the emergence of causal structures in quantum mechanics-essential for any formulation of a quantum theory of gravity. Here we experimentally simulate the non-linear behaviour of a qubit interacting unitarily with an older version of itself, addressing some of the fascinating effects that arise in systems traversing a closed timelike curve. These include perfect discrimination of non-orthogonal states and, most intriguingly, the ability to distinguish nominally equivalent ways of preparing pure quantum states. Finally, we examine the dependence of these effects on the initial qubit state, the form of the unitary interaction, and the influence of decoherence.