Tipler Cylinder
Encyclopedia
A Tipler cylinder is a cylinder of dense matter of infinite length, rotating about its longitudinal axis. This hypothetical object is theorized
to allow time travel
and is also called a Tipler time machine.
While references to infinite length cylinders can be found in literature back to 1936, it was Frank Tipler in 1974 who recognized it would allow closed timelike curves and thus allow time travel.
Tipler's solution was for a cylinder of infinite length. He suggested that a finite cylinder might produce closed timelike curves if the rotation rate were fast enough but he did not prove this.
Stephen Hawking
in his 1992 paper on the chronology protection conjecture
posited that closed timelike curves cannot be created, and thus cannot be used for time travel.
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
to allow time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
and is also called a Tipler time machine.
While references to infinite length cylinders can be found in literature back to 1936, it was Frank Tipler in 1974 who recognized it would allow closed timelike curves and thus allow time travel.
Tipler's solution was for a cylinder of infinite length. He suggested that a finite cylinder might produce closed timelike curves if the rotation rate were fast enough but he did not prove this.
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
in his 1992 paper on the chronology protection conjecture
Chronology protection conjecture
The chronology protection conjecture is a conjecture by the physicist Professor Stephen Hawking that the laws of physics are such as to prevent time travel on all but sub-microscopic scales. Mathematically, the permissibility of time travel is represented by the existence of closed timelike curves...
posited that closed timelike curves cannot be created, and thus cannot be used for time travel.
Tipler cylinders in fiction
- John DeChancieJohn DeChancieJohn DeChancie is an American author. A Pittsburgh native, he is most famous for his comic fantasy Castle series, and his science fiction Skyway series...
's Starrigger series uses vertically-aligned Tipler cylinders (officially called KerrRoy KerrRoy Patrick Kerr CNZM is a New Zealand mathematician who is best known for discovering the Kerr vacuum, an exact solution to the Einstein field equation of general relativity...
-Tipler objects) to create spacetime gateways along an intergalactic highway. - Larry NivenLarry NivenLaurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
wrote a short storyShort storyA short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, Rotating Cylinders and the Possibility of Global Causality Violation that borrowed its title from Tipler's paper. - Poul AndersonPoul AndersonPoul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
in The Avatar novel. - Vernor VingeVernor VingeVernor Steffen Vinge is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels and novellas A Fire Upon the Deep , A Deepness in the Sky , Rainbows End , Fast Times at Fairmont High ...
in the novel Marooned in Realtime, p. 174 (although the object is described as being a naked black hole).