Averaged null energy condition in a classical curved background

The averaged null energy condition (ANEC) states that the integral along a complete null geodesic of the projection of the stress-energy tensor onto the tangent vector to the geodesic cannot be negative. Exotic spacetimes, such as those allow wormholes or the construction of time machines are possib...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology, 2013-03, Vol.87 (6), Article 064009
Main Authors: Kontou, Eleni-Alexandra, Olum, Ken D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Construction equipment
Cosmology
Curvature
Inequalities
Mathematical analysis
Scalars
Vectors (mathematics)
Wormholes
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Summary:The averaged null energy condition (ANEC) states that the integral along a complete null geodesic of the projection of the stress-energy tensor onto the tangent vector to the geodesic cannot be negative. Exotic spacetimes, such as those allow wormholes or the construction of time machines are possible in general relativity only if ANEC is violated along achronal geodesics. Starting from a conjecture that flat-space quantum inequalities apply with small corrections in spacetimes with small curvature, we prove that ANEC is obeyed by a minimally coupled, free quantum scalar field on any achronal null geodesic surrounded by a tubular neighborhood whose curvature is produced by a classical source.
ISSN:1550-7998
1550-2368
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.87.064009