Causality in non-Hausdorff space-times

Some general properties of completely separable, non-Hausdorff manifolds are studied and the notion of a non-Hausdorff space-time is introduced. It is shown that such a space-time must, under very general conditions, display a kind of causal anomaly.     

Causality in quantum mechanics

We show explicitly how the causal arrow of time that follows from quantum mechanics has already been inserted at a deeper level by the choice of normalisation conditions. This prohibits information being sent backwards in time but does not determine a time direction for state propagation.     

Causality violations and singularities

We announce and justify two theorems (proofs will appear in Refs. 1 and 2): i) A generalization of the singularity theorem of Hawking and Penrose [3] to space-times with chronology violations. Although it is impossible to remove the chronology condition completely the announced theorem is in a well defined sense optimal: the chronology condition is replaced by a strictly weaker condition that cannot be removed because of counter examples, ii) If the chronology violating setV has compact closure and the strong energy and generic conditions hold, thenV is generated by incomplete null geodesics. It follows that if the region of causality violation does not extend to infinity thenV contains singularities.This essay received an honourable mention from the Gravity Research Foundation, 1989     

Causality and quantum mechanics

Statistical causality is recommended as the name of the generalized causality needed in quantum mechanics, instead of statistical correspondence used by Pauli.     

Causality and Cauchy horizons

LetS be a partial Cauchy surface for (M, go) which remains a partial Cauchy surface under small metric perturbations. In general, the Cauchy horizon H⁺(go, S) may be unstable to small changes in the metric. Points of the horizon may move by large amounts and even the topological type of the horizon may change under arbitrarily small changes in the metric tensor. In this paper, we investigate sufficient conditions for existential, locational, and topological stability of Cauchy horizons under metric changes which perturb the light cones by small amounts.     

Composite Structure and Causality

We study the question of whether a composite structure of elementary particles, with a length scale 1/Λ, can leave observable effects of non-locality and causality violation at higher energies (but ≲Λ). We formulate a model-independent approach based on Bogoliubov-Shirkov formulation of causality. We analyze the relation between the fundamental theory (of finer constituents) and the derived theory (of composite particles). We assume that the fundamental theory is causal and formulate a condition which must be fulfilled for the derived theory to be causal. We analyze the condition and exhibit possibilities which fulfil and which violate the condition. We make comments on how causality violating amplitudes can arise.     

Relativistic Simultaneity and Causality

We analyzed two types of relativistic simultaneity associated to an observer: the spacelike simultaneity, given by Landau submanifolds, and the lightlike simultaneity given by past-pointing horismos submanifolds. We study some geometrical conditions to ensure that Landau submanifolds are spacelike and we prove that horismos submanifolds are always lightlike. Finally, we establish some conditions to guarantee the existence of foliations in the space-time whose leaves are these submanifolds of simultaneity generated by an observer. These foliation structure allows us to incorporate the simultaneity submanifolds for studying some dynamical systems, for instance free elementary massless particles.     

Faster-than-Light Signals and Causality

The problems of causality are analyzed in terms of space-time models which admit the propagation of signals with superrelativistic velocities. It is shown that there is no violation in causality if the propagation of faster-than-light signals is described by general-covariant equations and occurs along invariant curves, as it is in some well-known models.     

Superluminal Signal Velocity and Causality

A superluminal signal velocity (i.e. faster than light) is said to violate causality. However, superluminal signal velocities have been measured in tunneling experiments recently. The classical dipole interaction approach by Sommerfeld and Brillouin results in a complex refractive index with a finite real part. For the tunneling process with its purely imaginary refractive index this model obtaines a zero-time traversing of tunneling barriers in agreement with wave meechanics. The information of a signal is proportional to the product of its frequency band width and its time duration. The reasons that superluminal signal velocities do not violate causality are: (i) physical signals are frequency band limited and (ii) signals have a finite time duration.     

Causality properties of form factors

Causality is proven for the known form factors of the one-particle matrix elements of the current commutator. The cases of conserved and non-conserved currents are considered.     

Causality Implies Formal State Collapse

A physical theory of experiments carried out in a space-time region can accommodate a detector localized in another space-like separated region, in three, not necessarily exclusive, ways: (1) the detector formally collapses physical states across space-like separations, (2) the detector enables superluminal signals, and (3) the theory becomes logically inconsistent. If such a theory admits autonomous evolving states, the space-like collapse must be instantaneous. Time-like separation does not allow such conclusions. We also prove some simple results on structural stability: within the set of all possible theories, under a weak empirical topology, the set of all theories with superluminal signals and the set of all theories with retrograde signals are both open and dense.     

Causality of the brane universe

Causal structure of the brane universe with respect to null geodesics in the bulk spacetime is studied. It is pointed out that apparent causality violation is possible for the brane universe which contains matter energy. It is also shown that there is no "horizon problem" in the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker brane universe.     

Causality bounds for neutron-proton scattering

We consider the constraints of causality and unitarity for the low-energy interactions of protons and neutrons. We derive a general theorem that non-vanishing partial-wave mixing cannot be reproduced with zero-range interactions without violating causality or unitarity. We define and calculate interaction length scales which we call the causal range and the Cauchy-Schwarz range for all spin channels up to J = 3 . For some channels we find that these length scales are as large as 5fm. We investigate the origin of these large lengths and discuss their significance for the choice of momentum cutoff scales in effective field theory and universality in many-body Fermi systems.     

Causality in noncommutative two-sheeted space-times

We investigate the causal structure of two-sheeted space-times using the tools of Lorentzian spectral triples. We show that the noncommutative geometry of these spaces allows for causal relations between the two sheets. The computation is given in detail when the sheet is a 2- or 4-dimensional globally hyperbolic spin manifold. The conclusions are then generalised to a point-dependent distance between the two sheets resulting from the fluctuations of the Dirac operator.     

Causality of invariant form factors

It is proved that the form factors for inelastic electron scattering by a polarized nucleon are causal.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 39–43, July, 1976.The authors axe grateful to A. N. Tavkhelidze for helpful remarks and suggestions.