The Theories of Time Travel

Why it is theoretically possible?

Who is responsible for these
conclusions?
Why it is believed to be
impossible?
 Einsteins Equations of
Space-time
Curvature of space and time is determined
by the matter-energy content of the universe
Possible to find configurations of matter-
energy that can force the bending of time
and allow time travel
When we find these configurations that allow
time to bend backwards Einsteins general
relativity breaks down and quantum theory
becomes dominant
The Breakdown of Einstein's General
Relativity and Theory of Gravity

Breakdown in large gravitational fields,

which are necessary for the backward
bending of time.
However both quantum theory and the
theory of gravity are united in the Hyper-
space theory which exists in ten-
dimensional space.
Kurt Gdel

Kurt Gdel was the first

person to find solutions
to Einsteins equation
that allowed for time
travel.
This was the first solid
mathematical
foundation for time
travel.
Kurt Gdels Solutions

Assumed that the universe was filled with gas

or dust and that its was rotating.
Concluded By making a round trip on a
rocket in a sufficiently wide curve , it is
possible in these worlds to travel into any
region of the past, present, and future and
back again.
He found the first closed timelike curves,
CTCs, in general relativity.
Einstein's view of time
vs.
Gdels

Einstien: a river flowing through space,

which could be moving at different
speeds dependent on it surroundings.
Gdel: this river could be bent smoothly
backwards into a circle, much like an
eddy or whirlpool in real river.
What was wrong with Gdels
theory?
Einstein was very perplexed by Gdels solutions
but could not find anything theoretically wrong
because Gdel used Einsteins own equations.
Weak spot was the in the assumption that the
universe was rotating.
Experimentally we have found no evidence that
this is true, so for now Gdels results can be
ruled out , but still remains a possibility if the
universe did rotate then CTCs and time travel
would be physically possible.
Kip Thorne

If Einstein is the
architect of the space-
time shortcut
(wormholes) then Kip
Thorne is its structural
engineer.-Micheal
Moyer
Along with colleagues,
developed first serious
proposal for a time
machine.
How the idea of Wormholes came
about?

1935: Einstein and colleague Nathan Rosen

examined the scenario where an tiny rip in a
black hole connected to another tiny rip in a
different black hole.
Know as the Einstien-Rosen bridge.
Today referred to as a wormhole and creates
a shortcut through space-time.
Thornes time machine centered around
wormholes.
The problem with wormholes
are:
One: the gravitation forces at the center of the black
hole are astronomically large.
Two: wormholes might be unstable, and that small
disturbances could cause the Einstein-Rosen bridge to
collapse.
Three: in order to penetrate a wormhole to the other
side, one would have to go faster than the speed of
light.
Four: the intense radiation given off by the black hole
might serve to close the wormhole by itself.
Five: because time slows down in a wormhole and
comes to a complete stop at the center (point of
singularity), it would take an infinite amount of time to
travel through the wormhole.
How Thorne discovered his time
machine?

He started by working the problem

backwards.
He wanted a solution to Einsteins
equations where the traveler would
survive a comfortable, round trip
through a stable wormhole, that would
be measured in days not millions of
years.
 At the beginning of these calculations and
theories, Thorne and colleagues stated that
this was a engineering problem for some
future civilization and had no realistic
applications for today or sometime in the near
future.
Their solution for these black holes turned out
not to be the typical black hole solution.
It was referred to as a transversible
wormhole.
 Thornes Wormhole

One way of creating this wormhole

involves two chambers each containing
two parallel metal plates and to induce
a huge electrical field, vastly greater
than anything possible today.
This electric field rips the fabric of
space-time and creates a wormhole
between the two chambers.
 Thornes Wormhole

A second way to create a transversible

wormhole is to utilize already existing black
holes.
The problem occurs at the center, because no
matter would be able to pass through it.
Throne concluded that if an exotic matter
with anti-gravity properties was introduced to
the center it would in a sense widen the
center and allow matter to flow through it.
 Thornes Wormhole

Now we would have a stable wormhole

than moves objects geographically in
space-time, when Thorne really wanted
a wormhole that moved objects in time.
To do this he applied Einstein's Special
Theory of Relativity.
Brief description of the Special
Theory of Relativity

For Thornes purpose, he used the idea

that time slows down for objects that
move quickly,relative to the speed of
light.
This principle, time dilation, is shown in
Lorentzs transformations:
t=t and
where =1/(1-(v/c))^
The Birth of a Time Machine

By surrounding the first chamber, the first

wormhole, in negative energy and towing it
around the universe at close to the speed of
light, it would age more slowly than the non-
moving chamber.
Overtime the two cambers would become
desynchronized in space-time, i.e. the two
chambers would exist in different times.
To travel back in time, an traveler would enter
the stationary end of the wormhole, the
second chamber, and exit at the moving
wormhole, the first chamber, many years
before he actually enter the second chamber.
Why we dont have time machines today?
The Problems:

The biggest and most obvious problem

is nature of the matter and energy
needed to create these wormholes was
know as exotic.
This exotic matter does not violate any
laws of physics, a key idea that hints to
its possible existence.
 Problem 2:

The amount of energy needed to create

and maintain a wormhole with exotic
matter is like nothing we have
produced with todays technology.
There is theory that negative energy
can be used to create areas of space-
time in which time is bent into a circle
with transversible wormholes.
 Negative Energy

Was discover by Henrik Casimir, through the use

of quantum theory.
Experimentally showed existence of negative
energy, by using two large neutral metal plates
separated by a very small distance, inside of a
vacuum.
He used the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, to
say that in between the plate there exists trillions
of particles and anti-particles constantly
appearing and disappearing.
Know as virtual particles and they create a
minute net attractive force between the plates.
Time Travel and String Theory
Richard Gott III

Proposed that
Cosmic Strings could
be used to allow
backward time
travel.
These strings are
infinitely long and
not wider than an
atom.
Time Travel and String Theory

These strings have very strange gravitational

properties: a loop of string acts like a regular
body of mass, while a straight piece has no
direct gravitational force even though it has a
large amount of mass per length.
Gotts theory was that two parallel strings
traveling in opposite directions and at close to
speed of light would cause such a distortion
in space-time that a CTC would form and
allow matter to enter this riff then exit before
it ever entered.
The Problem with Time Travel in
String Theory

We dont know enough about Cosmic

Strings to find the correct configurations,
motions, and the physical properties of
their infinite extension.
The downside is that we dont have the
proper information to use Gotts scenario,
but the upside is if we did, there are no
laws of physics that state it cant
theoretically happen.
The Limitation of Time Travel

So far to today, every plausible time

machine would not allow a traveler to
go back in time before the time
machine was created.
This is the one consistent limitation of
time travel, but still does not explain
the paradoxes that could arise by
traveling to the past.
Paradoxes of Changing the
Past:

Aside from the actual construction of a

time machine the most challenging part
would be the result of changing the past.
Stephen Hawking proposed a simple
solution to this problem called the
Chronology Protection Hypothesis.
It states that nature would always find a
way of preventing wormholes and other
ways of changing the past.
Paradoxes of Changing the
Past:

Some physicists believe that most

paradoxes can be explained with
Quantum Mechanics and the Theory of
Relativity, using matrices and a series of
mixed states which are the possible
outcome of changing the past.
This leads us to the theory of multiple
or parallel universes.
The End