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Quantum Physics, Fields and Closed Timelike Curves: The D-CTC Condition in Quantum Field Theory

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Abstract

The D-CTC condition has originally been proposed by David Deutsch as a condition on states of a quantum communication network that contains “backward time-steps” in some of its branches. It has been argued that this is an analogue for quantum processes in the presence of closed timelike curves (CTCs). The unusual properties of states of quantum communication networks that fulfill the D-CTC condition have been discussed extensively in recent literature. In this work, the D-CTC condition is investigated in the framework of quantum field theory in the local, operator-algebraic approach due to Haag and Kastler. It is shown that the D-CTC condition cannot be fulfilled in states that are analytic in the energy, or satisfy the Reeh–Schlieder property, for a certain class of processes and initial conditions. On the other hand, if a quantum field theory admits sufficiently many uncorrelated states across acausally related spacetime regions (as implied by the split property), then the D-CTC condition can always be fulfilled approximately to arbitrary precision. As this result pertains to quantum field theory on globally hyperbolic spacetimes where CTCs are absent, one may conclude that interpreting the D-CTC condition as characteristic for quantum processes in the presence of CTCs could be misleading, and should be regarded with caution. Furthermore, a construction of the quantized massless Klein–Gordon field on the Politzer spacetime, often viewed as spacetime analogue for quantum communication networks with backward time-steps, is proposed in this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, 04109, Leipzig, Germany

    Jürgen Tolksdorf

  2. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Leipzig, 04009, Leipzig, Germany

    Rainer Verch

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  1. Jürgen Tolksdorf
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  2. Rainer Verch
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Correspondence to Rainer Verch.

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Communicated by D. Buchholz, K. Fredenhagen, Y. Kawahigashi

Dedicated to the memory of Rudolf Haag

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Tolksdorf, J., Verch, R. Quantum Physics, Fields and Closed Timelike Curves: The D-CTC Condition in Quantum Field Theory. Commun. Math. Phys. 357, 319–351 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-017-2943-5

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