Space/time non-commutativity and causality
Date
2000ISSN
1126-6708Source
Journal of High Energy PhysicsVolume
2000Issue
06Pages
044.1-044.15Google Scholar check
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Field theories based on non-commutative spacetimes exhibit very distinctive non-local effects which mix the ultraviolet with the infrared in bizarre ways. In particular if the time coordinate is involved in the non-commutativity the theory seems to be seriously acausal and inconsistent with conventional hamiltonian evolution. To illustrate these effects we study the scattering of wave packets in a field theory with space/time non-commutativity. In this theory we find effects which seem to precede their causes and rigid rods which grow instead of Lorentz contract as they are boosted. These field theories are evidently inconsistent and violate causality and unitarity. On the other hand open string theory in a background electric field is expected to exhibit space/time non-commutativity. This raises the question of whether they also lead to acausal behavior. We show that this is not the case. Stringy effects conspire to cancel the acausal effects that are present for the non-commutative field theory. © 2000, Springer Verlag. All Rights reserved.