Billiard balls in wormhole spacetimes with closed timelike curves: Classical theory

Journal Article · Thu Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.44.1077· OSTI ID:5219973

Echeverria, F; Klinkhammer, G; Thorne, K S ^[1]

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1. Theoretical Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California (USA)

The effects of self-interaction in classical physics, in the presence of closed timelike curves, are probed by means of a simple model problem: The motion and self-collisions of a nonrelativistic, classical billiard ball in a space endowed with a wormhole that takes the ball backward in time. The central question asked is whether the Cauchy problem is well posed for this model problem, in the following sense: We define the {ital multiplicity} of an initial trajectory for the ball to be the number of self-consistent solutions of the ball's equations of motion, which begin with that trajectory. For the Cauchy problem to be well posed, all initial trajectories must have multiplicity one.

• OSTI ID: 5219973
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States) Vol. 44:4; ISSN PRVDA; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CAUCHY PROBLEM
CLASSICAL MECHANICS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS OF MOTION
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
LIGHT CONE
MECHANICS
MULTIPLICITY
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PERTURBATION THEORY
QUANTUM MECHANICS
SPACE-TIME