Superluminal travel made possible (in two dimensions)

Abstract

We argue that superluminal signal propagation is possible in consistent Poincare invariant quantum field theories in two space-time dimensions, provided spatial parity is broken. This happens due to existence of the ``instantaneous'' causal structure, with one of the light cone variables being a global time. In two dimensions this causal structure is invariant under the Poincare group if one gives up the spatial parity. As a non-trivial example of a consistent interacting quantum field theory with this causal structure we discuss a non-linear SO(1,1) sigma-model, where SO(1,1) is the Lorentz symmetry. We show that this theory is asymptotically free and argue that this model is also well defined non-perturbatively, at least for some values of parameters. It provides an example of a microscopic Poincare invariant quantum field theory with local action, but non-local physical properties. Being coupled to gravity this ``instantaneous'' theory mixes with the Liouville field. If proves to be consistent, the resulting model can be used to construct (non-critical) string theories with very unconventional properties by introducing the instantaneous causal structure on the world-sheet.