A twist in the geometry of rotating black holes: seeking the cause of acausality

Abstract

We investigate Kerr-Newman black holes in which a rotating charged ring-shaped singularity induces a region which contains closed timelike curves (CTCs). Contrary to popular belief, it turns out that the time orientation of the CTC is opposite to the direction in which the singularity or the ergosphere rotates. In this sense, CTCs "counter-rotate" against the rotating black hole. We have similar results for all spacetimes sufficiently familiar to us in which rotation induces CTCs. This motivates our conjecture that perhaps this counter-rotation is not an accidental oddity particular to Kerr-Newman spacetimes, but instead there may be a general and intuitively comprehensible reason for this.

21 pages, 5 figures; replaced to match published version forthcoming in General Relativity and Gravitation

References in corpus (2)

• Equatorial circular orbits in the Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes
• Visualizing some ideas about Godel-type rotating universes

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Spinning Loop Black Holes
• Axiomatizing relativistic dynamics without conservation postulates
• Vienna Circle and Logical Analysis of Relativity Theory
• Visualizing some ideas about Godel-type rotating universes
• The role of closed timelike curves in particle motion within Van Stockum space-time: A generalization
• On the Counter-Rotation of Closed Timelike Curves