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Work #906 · Mature (the Princeton period — Gödel's only published paper in general relativity)

An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solution to Einstein's Field Equations

Kurt Gödel
1949 (Reviews of Modern Physics 21, in the Einstein 70th-birthday Festschrift) · English
Physics-cosmology paper · General relativity / philosophy of time

A mathematically consistent rotating universe in which closed timelike curves exist — time-travel into the past is permitted by Einstein's equations

Attribute Fingerprint

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Attribute An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solution to Einstein's Field Equations (Mature (the Princeton period — Gödel's only published paper in general relativity))
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Relational
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Deterministic
Time · Traversability Cyclical
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Non-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Curved
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Non-local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Multiple
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Reversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solution to Einstein's Field Equations

The decisive dimension — the paper exhibits a relativistic universe with no global time function; closed timelike curves through every point mean past, present, and future cannot be globally distinguished.

Space

An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solution to Einstein's Field Equations

Curved Lorentzian spacetime; the rotating matter induces a non-trivial global geometry.

Matter

An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solution to Einstein's Field Equations

Pressure-free dust with non-zero density and angular velocity; Einstein's equations are satisfied with a negative cosmological constant.

Observer

An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solution to Einstein's Field Equations

The observer is "local" — a worldline in the spacetime — and the paper denies that any privileged global "now" picks out the observer's present.

Energy

An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solution to Einstein's Field Equations

Energy-momentum tensor of the rotating dust; the cosmological-constant term contributes a constant background.

Information

An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solution to Einstein's Field Equations

The mathematical content of the solution and the philosophical lesson Gödel draws — that the lived "now" is not in the physics itself.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solution to Einstein's Field Equations

The Gödel universe is not (and was not expected by Gödel to be) the actual cosmology — the observed universe shows no global rotation. The philosophical argument depends on the modal move from "physically possible" to "metaphysically informative," which presentists and growing-block theorists resist (Tooley, Markosian, Sider). Whether the existence of pathological solutions teaches anything about the actual structure of time remains contested.