Science Colloquium
Time Travel in General Relativity
Valerio Faraoni
Bishop's University
Friday, November 3, 2006
12:30 - 1:20 PM
Hamilton Room 302
Several exact solutions of the Einstein equations of general relativity contain closed timelike curves, i.e., observers travelling in time. Are these solutions physical? Examples will be discussed, with emphasis on wormhole solutions. Creating a time machine requires exotic material: currently, it seems unlikely that a macroscopic distribution of such matter can exist, but the last word is not written. The discussion will be rather technical and some background in general relativity is advised.
