In this work, we consider the full Horndeski Lagrangian applied to wormhole geometries and present the full gravitational field equations. We analyse the general constraints imposed by the flaring-out conditions at the wormhole throat and consider a plethora of specific subclasses of the Horndeski Lagrangian, namely, quintessence/phantom fields, $k$-essence, scalar-tensor theories, covariant galileons, nonminimal kinetic coupling, kinetic gravity braiding, and the scalar-tensor representation of Gauss-Bonnet couplings, amongst others. The generic constraints analysed in this work serve as a consistency check of the main solutions obtained in the literature and draws out new avenues of research in considering applications of specific subclasses of the Horndeski theory to wormhole physics.
We consider the Horndeski theory in four-dimensional space-time. We show that this theory does not admit stable, static, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat, Lorentzian wormholes.
We address the issue of whether a no-go theorem for static, spherically symmetric wormholes, proven in Horndeski theories, can be circumvented by going beyond Horndeski. We show that the ghost instabilities which are at the heart of the no-go theorem, can indeed be avoided. The wormhole solutions with the latter property are, however, strongly fine tuned, and hence it is likely that they are unstable. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether these solutions have other pathologies, like gradient instabilities along angular and radial directions.
We consider disformal transformations in a subclass of Horndeski theory in which a scalar field is kinetically coupled to the Einstein tensor. We apply a disformal transformation on a seed hairy black hole solution of this theory and we show that there is a transition of a black hole to a wormhole. We also show that the null energy condition is violated in the wormhole configuration and we study the stability of the wormhole solution by calculating the time evolution of scalar perturbations in this geometry.
We construct a large class of explicit, asymptotically flat and regular wormhole solutions in higher order scalar tensor theories. The solutions are vacuum solutions of scalar tensor theory and no matter (exotic or regular) is introduced in order to support them. They are constructed via a general disformal transformation of a seed black hole solution. The seed solutions belong to a particular Horndeski theory which requires the presence of all extended Galileons and has a higher dimensional Lovelock origin. As a result, the resulting wormholes are always solutions of general beyond Horndeski …
The vacuum polarization of the quantized scalar field with non-conformal coupling $ξ$ on the long throat of a wormhole background is calculated. It is shown that the stress-energy tensor of vacuum fluctuations in considered spacetime is determined by the local geometry of spacetime only. The self-consistent solutions of the semiclassical Einstein field equations describing a long throat of a traversable wormhole are obtained.
In [J. Blazquez-Salcedo, C. Knoll, E. Radu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126 (2021) no.10, 101102] asymptotically flat traversable wormhole solutions were obtained in the Einstein-Dirac-Maxwell theory without using phantom matter. The normalizable numerical solutions found therein require a peculiar behavior at the throat: the mirror symmetry relatively the throat leads to the nonsmoothness of gravitational and matter fields. In particular, one must postulate changing of the sign of the fermionic charge density at the throat, requiring coexistence of particle and antiparticles without annihilation and pos…
A wormhole with a quantum throat on the basis of an approximate model of the spacetime foam is presented. An effective spinor field is introduced for the description of the spacetime foam. The consequences of such model of the wormhole is preventing a "naked'' singularity in the Reissner-Nordström solution with $|e|/m > 1$.
Traversable wormholes have traditionally been viewed as intrinsically topological entities in some multiply connected spacetime. Here, we show that topology is too limited a tool to accurately characterize a generic traversable wormhole: in general one needs geometric information to detect the presence of a wormhole, or more precisely to locate the wormhole throat. For an arbitrary static spacetime we shall define the wormhole throat in terms of a 2-dimensional constant-time hypersurface of minimal area. (Zero trace for the extrinsic curvature plus a "flare-out" condition.) This enables us to …
We demonstrate that rotating matter sets the throat of an Ellis wormhole into rotation, allowing for wormholes which possess full reflection symmetry with respect to the two asymptotically flat spacetime regions. We analyze the properties of this new type of rotating wormholes and show that the wormhole geometry can change from a single throat to a double throat configuration. We further discuss the ergoregions and the lightring structure of these wormholes.
We present a new definition of the wormhole throat including the flare-out condition and the traversability for general dynamical spacetimes in terms of null geodesic congruences. We will examine our definition for some examples and see advantages compared to the others.
Smooth-throat wormholes are treated on as possessing quantum fluctuation energy with scalar massive field as its source. Heat kernel coefficients of the Laplace operator are calculated in background of the arbitrary-profile throat wormhole with the help of the zeta-function approach. Two specific profile are considered. Some arguments are given that the wormholes may exist. It serves as a solution of semiclassical Einstein equations in the range of specific values of length and certain radius of wormhole's throat and constant of non-minimal connection.
The null geodesic congruence for the Lorentzian version of Hawking's wormhole is studied, in spherical Rindler coordinates. One finds that the wormhole throat expands exponentially and the "flare - out" condition is satisfied. A time reversal is equivalent with an inversion applied to the radial coordinate. The stress energy is mostly located near wormhole's throat and the anisotropic fluid is comoving with the spherical distribution of accelerating observers. Far from the throat (the light cone in Cartesian coordinates) the negative energy density acquires an expression similar with the Casim…
The self-force of the electromagnetic charge in the space-time of a wormhole with an infinitely short throat is calculated. It is assumed that the charge is a source of an electromagnetic field that is in non-minimal connection with the curvature of space-time.
We construct numerically the symmetric non-Abelian wormholes which are supported by a phantom field in the Einstein-Yang-Mills-Higgs theory beyond Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) limit where the Higgs self-interaction constant $λ$ is non-vanishing. Analogous to the BPS limit, the probe limit is the Yang-Mills-Higgs field in the background of the Ellis wormhole when the gravity is switched off. In the presence of gravity, the wormhole solutions possess the Yang-Mills-Higgs hair where families of hairy wormholes solutions emerge from the Ellis wormhole when the gravitational coupling consta…
We consider wormhole geometries subject to a gravitational action consisting of non-linear powers of the Ricci scalar. Specifically, wormhole throats are studied in the case where Einstein gravity is supplemented with a Ricci-squared and inverse Ricci term. In this modified theory it is found that static wormhole throats respecting the weak energy condition can exist. The analysis is done locally in the vicinity of the throat, which eliminates certain restrictions on the models introduced by considering the global topology.
We consider the total energy loss and spectral density of uniformly moving electrically charged particles in the spacetime of a wormhole with an infinitely short throat. We show that the total energy loss $\mathcal{E} \sim e^2vγa^2/b^3$, where $γ$ is relativistic factor, $a$ is the radius of the wormhole's throat and $b$ is the impact factor. The spectrum of the energy for particles radially moving through the wormhole's throat $\mathcal{E} \sim e^2vγ/a$. The spectral density of the total energy has a maximum at frequency $ω_m \sim vγ/b$ and at $ω_m \sim vγ/a$ for radial motion.
Here we shall show how to reconstruct the shape function of a spherically symmetric traversable Lorenzian wormhole near its throat if one knows high frequency quasinormal modes of the wormhole. The wormhole spacetime is given by the Morris-Thorne ansatz. The solution to the inverse problem via fitting of the parameters within the WKB approach is unique for arbitrary tideless wormholes and some wormholes with non-zero tidal effects, but this is not so for arbitrary wormholes. As examples, we reproduce the near throat geometries of the Bronnikov-Ellis and tideless Morris-Thorne metrics by their …
This brief review discusses the existence conditions of wormhole throats and wormholes as global configurations in general relativity under the assumptions of cylindrical and axial symmetries. It is pointed out, in particular, that wormhole throats can exist in static, cylindrically symmetric space-times under slightly different conditions as compared with spherical symmetry. In cylindrical space-time with rotation, throats can exist in the presence of ordinary matter or even in vacuum; however, there are substantial difficulties in obtaining asymptotically flat wormhole configurations without…
School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Korea National University of Transportation（韩国国立交通大学人文科学与艺术学院）；Center for Quantum Spacetime, Sogang University（西江大学量子时空中心）
In this paper we study a class of wormhole solutions called generalized Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes in the context of asymptotically safe gravity (ASG). These solutions are characterized by two parameters: an even number $n$ and the wormhole throat radius $r_t$. The particular case $n=2$ recovers the usual Ellis-Bronnikov spacetime, which has already been addressed in the literature. We analyzed the nature of matter in the wormhole's throat, and in nearby regions, of these generalized solutions with $n>2$, using three curvature scalars in the ASG approach, namely, the Ricci scalar, squared Ricci…
We consider Lorentzian wormholes with a phantom field and chiral matter fields. The chiral fields are described by the non-linear sigma model with or without a Skyrme term. When the gravitational coupling of the chiral fields is increased, the wormhole geometry changes. The single throat is replaced by a double throat with a belly inbetween. For a maximal value of the coupling, the radii of both throats reach zero. Then the interior part pinches off, leaving a closed universe and two (asymptotically) flat spaces. A stability analysis shows that all wormholes threaded by chiral fields inherit t…
We reconsider the issue of whether scalar-tensor theories can admit stable wormhole configurations supported by a non-trivial radial profile for the scalar field. Using a recently proposed effective theory for perturbations around static, spherically symmetric backgrounds, we show that scalar-tensor theories of "beyond Horndeski" type can have wormhole solutions that are free of ghost and gradient instabilities. Such solutions are instead forbidden within the more restrictive "Horndeski" class of theories.
It was argued in literature that traversable wormholes can exist with arbitrarily small violation of null energy conditions. We show that if the amount of exotic material near the wormhole throat tends to zero, either this leads to a horn instead of a wormhole or the throat approaches the horizon in such a way that infnitely large stresses develop on the throat.
In the letter titled ''Traversable Wormholes in General Relativity'' [Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 091104 (2022)], R. A. Konoplya and A. Zhidenko have constructed an asymmetric wormhole solution, which is not symmetric about the throat and is compounded from smooth gravitational and charged Dirac fields. However, the authors have claimed that a physically relevant condition on the throat is imposed to lead to no gravitational force experienced by a stationary observer at the throat. In this comment, we point out that the above condition is unnecessary.
The structure of the effective potential $V$ describing causal geodesics near the throat of an arbitrary spherical wormhole is analyzed. Einstein's equations relative to a set of regular coordinates covering a vicinity of the throat imply that any spherical wormhole can be constructed from solutions of an effective initial value problem with the throat serving as an initial value surface. The initial data involve matter variables, the area A(0) of the throat and the gradient $Λ(0)$ of the red shift factor on the throat. Whenever $Λ(0)=0$, the effective potential $V$ has a critical point on the…
Recently we have shown that for $2+1-$dimensional thin-shell wormholes a non-circular throat may lead to a physical wormhole in the sense that the energy conditions are satisfied. By the same token, herein we consider angular dependent throat geometry embedded in a $2+1-$dimensional flat spacetime in polar coordinates. It is shown that a generic, natural example of throat geometry is provided remarkably by a hypocycloid. That is, two flat $2+1-$dimensions are glued together along a hypocycloid. The energy required in each hypocycloid increases with the frequency of the roller circle inside the…
A classical membrane model is developed for a dynamic wormhole. Its throat expands hyperbolically with an acceleration proportional to the surface energy density $σ$. The model leads to a negative bulk viscosity coefficient $ζ= - 1/6 π$ on the throat, expressing the instability against perturbations (expansions or contractions).
We revisit to investigate shadows cast by Kerr-like wormholes. The boundary of the shadow is determined by unstable circular photon orbits. We find that, in certain parameter regions, the orbit is located at the throat of the Kerr-like wormhole, which was not considered in the literature. In these cases, the existence of the throat alters the shape of the shadow significantly, and makes it possible for us to differentiate it from that of a Kerr black hole.
We calculate the Casimir energy-momentum tensor induced in a scalar field by a macroscopic ultrastatic spherically-symmetric long-throated traversable wormhole, and examine whether this exotic matter is sufficient to stabilise the wormhole itself. The Casimir energy-momentum tensor is obtained (within the $\mathbb{R}\times S_2$ throat) by a mode sum approach, using a sharp energy cut-off and the Abel-Plana formula; Lorentz invariance is then restored by use of a Pauli-Villars regulator. The massless conformally-coupled case is found to have a logarithmic divergence (which we renormalise) and a…
In this paper, we investigate new exact and analytic solutions of the Einstein Maxwell field equations describing Casimir wormholes with and without the effect of the Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP). We consider a specific type of the GUP relations and study three specific models of the redshift function along with two different EoS of state. Here we obtain a class of asymptotically flat Casimir wormhole solutions with and without GUP corrections under the effect of electric charge. Furthermore we check the null, weak, strong and dominant energy conditions at the wormhole throat of rad…
Wormholes and black holes have traditionally been treated a quite separate objects with relatively little overlap. The possibility of a connection arises in that wormholes, if they exist, might have profound influence on black holes, their event horizons, and their internal structure. After discussing some connections, we embark on an overview of what can generally be said about traversable wormhole throats. We discuss the violations of the energy conditions that typically occur at and near the throat of any traversable wormhole and emphasize the generic nature of this result. We discuss the o…
Adapting and extending a suggestion due to Page, we define a wormhole throat to be a marginally anti-trapped surface, that is, a closed two-dimensional spatial hypersurface such that one of the two future-directed null geodesic congruences orthogonal to it is just beginning to diverge. Typically a dynamic wormhole will possess two such throats, corresponding to the two orthogonal null geodesic congruences, and these two throats will not coincide, (though they do coalesce into a single throat in the static limit). The divergence property of the null geodesics at the marginally anti-trapped surf…
A thin-shell wormhole is crafted by the cut-and-paste method of two Bardeen de-Sitter black holes using Darmois-Israel formalism. Energy conditions are considered for different values of magnetic charge while both mass and cosmological constant are fixed. The attractive and repulsive characteristics of the throat of the thin-shell wormhole are also examined through the radial acceleration. Dynamics and stability of the wormhole are studied around the static solutions of the linearized radial perturbations at the throat of the wormhole. The regions of stability are determined by checking out th…
We construct explicit examples of globally regular static, spherically symmetric solutions of general relativity with a phantom scalar field as the source of gravity, describing traversable wormholes with flat asymptotic regions on both sides of the throat as well as regular black holes, in particular, those called black universes. To explain why such phantom fields are not observed under usual conditions, we invoke the concept of "invisible ghosts," which means that the phantom field decays quickly enough at infinity and is there too weak to be observed. This approach leads to wormhole models…
We construct wormholes in Einstein-vector-Gauss-Bonnet theory where a real massless vector field is coupled to the higher curvature Gauss-Bonnet invariant. We consider three coupling functions which depend on the square of the vector field. The respective domains of existence of wormholes possess as their boundaries i) black holes, ii) solutions with a singular throat, iii) solutions with a degenerate throat and iv) solutions with cusp singularities. Depending on the coupling function wormhole solutions can feature a single throat or an equator surrounded by a double throat. The wormhole solut…
In this paper, we introduce the $n$-dimensional Lorentzian wormhole solutions of third order Lovelock gravity. In contrast to Einstein gravity and as in the case of Gauss-Bonnet gravity, we find that the wormhole throat radius, $r_0$, has a lower limit that depends on the Lovelock coefficients, the dimensionality of the spacetime and the shape function. We study the conditions of having normal matter near the throat, and find that the matter near the throat can be normal for the region $r_0 \leq r \leq r_{\max}$, where $r_{\max}$ depends on the Lovelock coefficients and the shape function. We …
A fundamental ingredient in wormhole physics is the flaring-out condition at the throat which, in classical general relativity, entails the violation of the null energy condition. In this work, we present the most general conditions in the context of modified gravity, in which the matter threading the wormhole throat satisfies all of the energy conditions, and it is the higher order curvature terms, which may be interpreted as a gravitational fluid, that support these nonstandard wormhole geometries. Thus, we explicitly show that wormhole geometries can be theoretically constructed without the…
We numerically construct a symmetric wormhole solution in pure Einstein gravity supported by a massive $3$-form field with a potential that contains a quartic self-interaction term. The wormhole spacetimes have only a single throat and they are everywhere regular and asymptotically flat. Furthermore, their mass and throat circumference increase almost linearly as the coefficient of the quartic self-interaction term $Λ$ increases. The amount of violation of the null energy condition (NEC) is proportional to the magnitude of $3$-form, thus the NEC is less violated as $Λ$ increases, since the mag…
We consider a spherically symmetric line element which admits either a black hole geometry or a wormhole geometry and show that in both cases the apparent horizon or the wormhole throat is partially characterized by the zero-set of a single curvature invariant. The detection of the apparent horizon by this invariant is consistent with the geometric horizon detection conjectures and implies that it is a geometric horizon of the black hole, while the detection of the wormhole throat presents a conceptual problem for the conjectures. To distinguish between these surfaces, we determine a set of cu…
We present a polymer quantization of spherically symmetric Einstein gravity in which the polymerized variable is the area of the Einstein-Rosen wormhole throat. In the classical polymer theory, the singularity is replaced by a bounce at a radius that depends on the polymerization scale. In the polymer quantum theory, we show numerically that the area spectrum is evenly-spaced and in agreement with a Bohr-Sommerfeld semiclassical estimate, and this spectrum is not qualitatively sensitive to issues of factor ordering or boundary conditions except in the lowest few eigenvalues. In the limit of sm…
We consider Ellis wormholes immersed in rotating matter in the form of an ordinary complex boson field. The resulting wormholes may possess full reflection symmetry with respect to the two asymptotically flat spacetime regions. However, there arise also wormhole solutions where the reflection symmetry is broken. The latter always appear in pairs. We analyse the properties of these rotating wormholes and show that their geometry may feature single throats or double throats. We also discuss the ergoregions and the lightring structure of these wormholes.
The present paper is intended for studying the effect of strong gravitational lensing in the context of charged wormhole. To study this effect, the conditions determining the existence of photon spheres at and outside the throat are obtained. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of photon spheres at or outside the throat of the charged wormhole is derived. Furthermore, photon spheres are investigated in three cases for three different forms of redshift function. These three cases include the existence of effective photon spheres (i) at the throat, (ii) outside the throat a…
Wormhole solutions in a generalized hybrid metric-Palatini matter theory, given by a gravitational Lagrangian $f\left(R,\cal{R}\right)$, where $R$ is the metric Ricci scalar, and $\mathcal{R}$ is a Palatini scalar curvature defined in terms of an independent connection, and a matter Lagrangian, are found. The solutions are worked in the scalar-tensor representation of the theory, where the Palatini field is traded for two scalars, $φ$ and $ψ$, and the gravitational term $R$ is maintained. The main interest in the solutions found is that the matter field obeys the null energy condition (NEC) ev…
We consider Lorentzian wormholes supported by a phantom field and threaded by non-trivial Yang-Mills fields, which may be regarded as hair on the Ellis wormhole. Like the Bartnik-McKinnon solutions and their associated hairy black holes, these hairy wormholes form infinite sequences, labeled by the node number $k$ of their gauge field function. We discuss the throat geometry of these wormholes, showing that odd-$k$ solutions may exhibit a double-throat, and evaluate their global charges. We analyze the limiting behavior exhibited by wormhole solutions as the gravitational coupling becomes larg…
