Tangled up in Spinning Cosmic Strings

TL;DR

This paper presents a new numerical solution for a spinning cosmic string with a scalar gauge field, analyzing causality issues and the behavior of closed time-like curves near the string's core.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interior numerical solution for a self-gravitating spinning cosmic string with detailed matching to exterior spacetime, addressing causality and energy divergence issues.

Findings

CTCs are unlikely near the string core.

Proper time around the string diverges as angular momentum decreases.

Energy-momentum tensor components diverge near causality-breaking boundary.

Abstract

It is known for a long time that the space time around a spinning cylindrical symmetric compact object such as the cosmic string, show un-physical behavior, i.e., they would possess closed time like curves (CTC). This controversy with Hawking's chronology protection conjecture is unpleasant but can be understood if one solves the coupled scalar-gauge field equations and the matching conditions at the core of the string. A new interior numerical solution is found of a self gravitating spinning cosmic string with a U(1) scalar gauge field and the matching on the exterior space time is revealed. It is conjectured that the experience of CTC's close to the core of the string is exceedingly unlikely. It occurs when the causality breaking boundary, $r_\mu$, approaches the boundary of the cosmic string, $r_{CS}$. Then the metric components become singular and the proper time on the core of the string stops flowing. Further, we expect that the angular momentum $J$ will decrease due to the emission of gravitational energy triggered by the scalar perturbations. When a complete loop is taken around the string, the interior time jumps by a factor $2\pi J$. The proper time it takes to make a complete loop becomes infinite and will be equal to the period that $g_{\varphi\varphi}$ remains positive. In this time interval the angular momentum will be reduced to zero by emission of wave energy. The physical situation of an observer who experience $r_{\mu}\rightarrow r_{CS}$ is very unpleasant: the energy-momentum tensor components diverge.