Looping back to the past through free fall in a controlled warp drive spacetime

TL;DR

This paper modifies a rotating warp drive spacetime to create closed timelike curves that are geodesics, offering a simplified model for studying time travel within general relativity.

Contribution

It introduces a coordinate-dependent rotation in a warp drive spacetime, transforming some CTCs into geodesics for finite proper time, aiding theoretical exploration of time travel.

Findings

Closed timelike curves become spatially circular geodesics.

Paths model free particles interacting with CTCs for finite proper time.

Provides a theoretical background for classical and quantum time travel studies.

Abstract

We present a modification to a 'rotating' version of the dynamical Alcubierre spacetime, which was previously shown to permit closed timelike curves. We find that if the effective rotation rate is made dependent on the spacetime coordinates within the bubble, a class of closed timelike curves are promoted to spatially circular geodesics. These paths provide a simple model of a free particle interacting with a CTC for a finite proper time interval, entering and exiting in flat spacetime. Despite the questionable physical realisability of our metric, we suggest that it may provide a useful background for future theoretical studies of classical and quantum models of time travel in a general relativistic setting.