Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Time and causality are two of the most fundamental concepts in physics, and yet they remain ill-understood. The purpose of this project is to use general relativity and quantum mechanics, two cornerstone theories of physics with great theoretical and experimental success, to investigate one of the most exciting and thought-provoking questions about time and causality: whether causality can be violated. The two most commonly known manifestations of causality violation are faster-than-light (FTL) travel and time travel. In time travel, the traveler directly violates causality by traveling to their own past. In FTL travel, the traveler merely travels so fast that they can causally influence events they could not have otherwise - but as it turns out, FTL travel can often be used to facilitate time travel. Can these concepts be transformed from science fiction into real science, even just in principle? The answer to this question is currently unknown, and this indicates a major deficiency in our understanding of the universe. A positive answer would revolutionize physics and require substantial rewriting of our existing theories. A negative answer would provide valuable insights into the inner workings of our theories, by figuring out the mechanisms by which our universe protects causality, as first conjectured by Stephen Hawking. The ultimate goals of this research are to enhance humanity's understanding of how time and causality work in our universe, expand and improve our fundamental theories of nature, create powerful software tools to accelerate future research, lay the foundations for future technological and scientific advancements, and train the next generation of scientists in the advanced theoretical, mathematical, and computational methods needed to pursue further research in this area. To facilitate these goals, I would like to establish the first-ever Canadian research group focused on time and causality. This will bring new and exciting research opportunities to Canadian students, and help attract brilliant minds from around the world. Undergraduate and graduate students in my group will work on different aspects of this project using a variety of analytical and computational techniques, with research projects tailored to each student's individual interests. To this end, my students will receive extensive training in mathematics, physics, and programming, in an inclusive environment which encourages creativity, collaboration, and diversity of ideas. My students will also learn how to communicate science in clear and simple terms, so that their findings will be accessible to the general public, not just to experts. The advanced problem solving, analytical, and coding skills that the students will obtain in my group will allow them to continue pursuing academic research in theoretical physics. These skills are also highly transferable and sought-after outside academia, in fields such as technology, industry, and finance.