Ring wormholes and time machines

Abstract

In the present paper we discuss properties of a model of a ring wormhole, recently proposed by Gibbons and Volkov. Such a wormhole connects two flat spacetimes which are glued through discs of the radius $a$ bounded by the string with negative angle deficit $-2π$. The presence of the string's matter violating null energy condition makes the wormhole static and traversable. We study gravitational field of static sources in such a spacetime in the weak field approximation. In particular, we discuss how a field of an oblate thin massive shell surrounding one of the wormhole's mouth is modified by its presence. We also obtain a solution of a similar problem when both mouths of the wormhole are located in the same space. This approximate solution if found for the case when the distance $L$ between these mouths is much larger than the radius $a$ of the ring. We demonstrate that the corresponding locally static gravitational field in such a multiply connected space is non-potential. As a result of this, the proper time gap for the clock's synchronization linearly grows with time and closed timelike curves are formed. This process inevitably transforms such a traversable ring wormhole into a time machine. We estimate the time scale of this process.