Time Travel

By B. Justin Scholfield

What is the nature of Time?

Time is used to relate
events
We define two actions
as simultaneous
when we see the two
actions at the same
time

Special & General Relativity

Special Relativity
This is the boost matrix, or
Lorentz tensor.
It describes the translation of
position and time to another
frame moving at speed v
along one axis

Its called special relativity because it cant handle acceleration that well.
It can be used for doing relativistic mechanics as long as gravity is not involved
Fun Fact: It took Einstein only 8 weeks to come up with special relativity.

General Relativity
This is the Einstein Field Equations
It is described as:
16 coupled hyperbolic-elliptic nonlinear
partial differential equations
Meaning its very, very hard to solve.
In expanded form it is three pages long, just to define the problem
The Field Equations are used to predict how a distribution of mass will effect space
All the time machines I will mention will be based on solutions to this equation

Fun Fact: it took Einstein 8 years to create this

The Diagrams of Time Travel

Minkowski diagrams and Light cones

Minkowski diagrams
Minkowski diagrams are used to
show a particle traveling thru space
time, they have one time axis and
one space axis.

The particles in a diagram form a

world line which is the line that a
particle takes thru space time

Light Cones
Light Cones are used to show how
a particle can move. The edge of
the cone cant be broken because
that would mean that the particle
has some how gone faster than
light

Accepted forms of Time Travel

The following forms of time travel are all future
ward and all of them have been experimentally
verified

High speed based Time Travel

The equation shown is the formula
for time dilation at high speeds

For example at .999999c the

dilation factor is about 707
The difficulty with a
practical application is
that to reach such high
speeds requires a good
deal of acceleration

Time Travel Because of

Acceleration
General Relativity shows that time dilation is created by
acceleration. The acceleration can be anything from gravity to linear
acceleration to angular acceleration
Fun Facts:
There is a 7% difference in the time
measured on earth and on a neutron star
On a rotating disk with a 66,000 g
centripetal acceleration an atomic clock
was used to measure the time dilation for
an experiment
That rotation leads to time
dilation implies that a
possible time machine could
be a high powdered dryer

The Twin Paradox

One twin leaves the earth and
travels into space on a space
ship (a fast one) and the other
stays behind. The space twin is
younger than the earth twin
when he returns. Why cant it
be the other way around?

Answer: one has a curved

world line, the other doesn't.

Backwards Time Travel

The Gdel Universe

Gdel's Idea was to make a
Universe that would enable
time travel. He dose this by
using frame dragging and a
rotating Universe

Frame Dragging happens

when a rotating mass
drags space with it, it there
by causes light cones to
tip.

Fun Fact: Yesterday (10/21/2004) the first experimental verification

of frame dragging was published

The Tippler Cylinder

The Tippler
cylinder is
related to the
Gdel universe.
It uses an
infinitely long
rotating cylinder
to achieve the
same effect.

Worm Hole Time Travel

Worm Holes are
solutions to the
field equations
that allow space
to be non simply
connected

How to make a Worm Hole into a

Time Machine
Once a Worm Hole is made one end
of it can be placed in a high gravity
field or accelerated to a high speed
then slowed down again. This provides
a time machine for as long as the
Worm Hole exists.

The a difficulty arises in doing this

because worm holes tend to be unstable
and my be destroyed if moved or placed
into a high gravity field.

Problems With Worm Hole Creation

No one is sure how to make a
worm hole. There are many
suggested methods of worm hole
creation but most require a black
hole or an ability to inflate one
form the quantum foam.

A worm hole requires an lot

of tension to be kept open,
for a 3 foot diameter worm
hole it is on the order of
10^36 tones. Something that
could hold at this level of
tension would be classified
as can rightly be called
exotic matter.

A Worm Hole that passes thru time

could also make a unbounded
energy resonance that would
destroy the worm hole.

Paradoxes with Backwards Time

Travel
The diagram is a picture
of a billiard ball going thru
a worm hole time
machine. This is a
machine version of the
grandfather paradox.
The billiard ball has an
infinite number of possible
paths, all self consistent.
The solution to what the
path of the ball will be is
as a group of probabilities
and cant be solved until
we have a better grasp of
quantum gravity.

In Closing
All The time machines That I have mentioned are allowed by
general relativity. There are no known physics that dont allow
this.
Sources

1.Time Machines: Time Travel and Physics, Metaphysics, and Science-fiction. Nahin,
Paul J. 1999, Springer-Verlag New York, Inc
2. How to Build aTime Machine. Davies, Paul. 2001, Viking Penguin.
3. Black Holes & Time Warps, Throne, Kip S. 1994, H.W. Norton & Company.
4. Factors, Tensors, and the Basic Equations of Fluid Mechanics. Aris, Rutherford.
1962 Dover Books
5. The Einstein Equations. Author unknown.
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/EinsteinEquations.html#intro. Accessed
10/21/2004
6. Spinning Earth Twists Space. News report.
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041018/full/041018-11.html. Accessed 10/21/2004