Closed timelike curves and chronology protection in quantum and classical simulators

Abstract

In principe, General Relativity seems to allow the existence of closed timelike curves (CTC). However, when quantum effects are considered, it is likely that their existence is prevented by some kind of chronological protection mechanism, as Hawking conjectured. Confirming or refuting the conjecture would require a full quantum theory of gravity. Meanwhile, the use of simulations could shed some light on this issue. We propose simulations of CTCs in a quantum system as well as in a classical one. In the quantum simulation, some restrictions appear that are not present in the classical setup, which could be interpreted as an analogue of a chronology protection mechanism.

6 pages, 4 figures. v2: published version

References in corpus (5)

• Fiber-optical analogue of the event horizon
• Observation of Dirac Monopoles in a Synthetic Magnetic Field
• Analogue Hawking Radiation in a dc-SQUID Array Transmission Line
• Closed Timelike Curves and "Effective" Superluminal Travel with Naked Line Singularities
• One-dimensional sections of exotic spacetimes with superconducting circuits

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Chronology Protection Implementation in Analogue Gravity
• Quantum Simulation of Black Holes in a dc-SQUID Array
• Analogue non-causal Null Curves and Chronology protection in a dc-SQUID Array
• Phase transitions induced by standard and predetermined measurements in transmon arrays
• Analogue simulation of quantum gravity black hole models in a dc-SQUID array
• On the role of closed timelike curves and confinement structure around Kerr-Newman singularity