Space/time non-commutative field theories and causality

As argued previously, amplitudes of quantum field theories on non-commutative space and time cannot be computed using naive path integral Feynman rules. One of the proposals is to use the Gell-Mann-Low formula with time-ordering applied before performing the integrations. We point out that the previously given prescription should rather be regarded as an interaction-point time-ordering. Causality is explicitly violated inside the region of interaction. It is nevertheless a consistent procedure, which seems to be related to the interaction picture of quantum mechanics. In this framework we compute the one-loop self-energy for a space/time non-commutative φ4 theory. Although in all intermediate steps only three-momenta play a role, the final result is manifestly Lorentz covariant and agrees with the naive calculation. Deriving the Feynman rules for general graphs, we show, however, that such a picture holds for tadpole lines only. (orig.)