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The breakdown of quantum mechanics in the presence of time machinest

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Abstract

General Relativity allows for the existence of closed timelike curves. Various attempts have been made to exploit this possibility and build a “time machine,” that is a spacetime that has closed timelike lines inside some compact domain. We examine a simple model of a time machine, and construct the quantum-mechanical propagator for free particles in the vicinity of the causality violating domain. We discover that it is impossible for such propagators to be consistent with the law of conservation of probability. We speculate on the possible deeper consequences of our calculations.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Malcolm J. Perry

    Present address: DAMTP, University of Cambridge, CB3 9EW, Cambridge, UK

  2. Tsvi Piran

    Present address: Racah Institute for Physics, The Hebrew University, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, 02138, Cambridge, Massachussetts, USA

    Dalia S. Goldwirth & Tsvi Piran

  2. Department of Mathematics, MIT, 02139, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Malcolm J. Perry

Authors
  1. Dalia S. Goldwirth
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  2. Malcolm J. Perry
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  3. Tsvi Piran
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Additional information

This essay received the fifth award from the Gravity Research Foundation, 1992-Ed.

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Goldwirth, D.S., Perry, M.J. & Piran, T. The breakdown of quantum mechanics in the presence of time machinest. Gen Relat Gravit 25, 7–13 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00756924

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