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In this thesis, the methods of differential topology are used to study the gravitational lensing effect. First, the reader is taken on a brief tour through the basics of black holes, wormholes, gravitational lensing and the mathematical tools of Fermat's principle, Morse theory and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem. Then, the understanding is deepened by applying Morse theory and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem to gravitational lensing. In the first part, we have fixed an observation event p and the worldline of a light source gamma and identified the set of all past-oriented lightlike geodesics from p to gamma. Since each such geodesic corresponds to an image of the light source on the observer’s sky, this allows us to examine the lensing properties of wormholes. As key results, we have proven with the help of Morse theory that under very mild conditions on gamma, the observer is able to see infinitely many images of gamma. Moreover, we have studied some qualitative features of the lightlike geodesics with the help of two potentials that determine the sum of the centrifugal and Coriolis forces of observers in circular motion for the case that the observers’ velocity approaches the velocity of light. We have exemplified the general results with two specific wormhole spacetimes. In the second part, we have shown with the help of Fermat’s principle that every lightlike geodesic in the Brill metric projects onto a geodesic of a two-dimensional Riemannian metric, the so-called optical metric. The optical metric is defined on a (coordinate) cone, whose opening angle is determined by the impact parameter of the lightlike geodesic. We have shown that the optical metrics on cones with different opening angles are locally isometric. With the help of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, we have demonstrated that the deflection angle of a lightlike geodesic is determined by an area integral over the Gaussian curvature of the optical metric. Last but not least, we have investigated gravitational lensing of Brill wormholes by examining the existence of photon circles and propagation possibilities of light rays.

If Euclidean wormholes contribute meaningfully to the path integral of quantum gravity they can have important implications for particle physics and cosmology. The dominant effects arise from wormholes whose sizes are comparable to the cut-off scale of effective field theory, for which ultraviolet corrections become relevant. We study corrections to classical axion wormhole solutions in string motivated scenarios in which the dilaton partner of the axion becomes massive. We find corrections near the neck region which are consistent with a recent version of the weak gravity conjecture for axions., Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, published version

The Goheer-Kleban-Susskind no-go theorem says that the symmetry of de Sitter space is incompatible with finite entropy. The meaning and consequences of the theorem are discussed in the light of recent developments in holography and gravitational path integrals. The relation between the GKS theorem, Boltzmann fluctuations, wormholes, and exponentially suppressed non-perturbative phenomena suggests: the classical symmetry between different static patches is broken; and that eternal de Sitter space -- if it exists at all -- is an ensemble average., 55 pages, 17 figures

In this paper, we study quantum relativistic features of a scalar field around the Rindler-Schwarzschild wormhole. First, we introduce this new class of spacetime, investigating some energy conditions and verifying their violation in a region nearby the wormhole throat, which means that the object has to have an exotic energy in order to prevent its collapse. Then, we study the behavior of the massless scalar field in this spacetime and compute the effective potential by means of tortoise coordinates. We show that such a potential is attractive nearby the wormhole throat and that is traversable via quantum tunneling by massive particles with sufficiently low energies. The solution of the Klein-Gordon equation is obtained subsequently, showing that the energy spectrum of the field is subject to a constraint which induces a decreasing oscillatory behavior. On imposing Dirichlet boundary conditions on a spherical shell nearby the throat we then determine the particle energy levels, and we use this spectrum to calculate the quantum revival of the eigenstates. Finally, we compute the Casimir energy associated with the massless scalar field at zero temperature. We perform this calculation by means of the sum of modes method. The zero-point energy is regularized using the Epstein-Hurwitz zeta-function. We also obtain an analytical expression for the Casimir force acting on the shell., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures

The Schwarzschild solution to the Einstein field equation leads to a solution that has been interpreted as wormholes. While many researchers have been sceptical about this interpretation, others have been positive about it. We show that wormholes are not mathematically allowed in the spherical metric of a newly-released unified quantum gravity theory known as collision space-time [1] [2] [3]. We, therefore, have reasons to believe that wormholes in general relativity theory are nothing more than a mathematical artefact due to an incomplete theory, but we are naturally open to discussions about this point. The premise that wormholes likely do not exist falls nicely into line with a series of other intuitive predictions from collision space-time where general relativity theory falls short, such as matching the full spectrum of the Planck scale for micro “black holes”. Wormholes Do Not Exist: They Are Mathematical Artifacts from an Incomplete Gravitational Theory

Wormholes are hypothetical topologically-non-trivial structures of the spacetime. From the theoretical point of view, the possibility of their existence is challenging but cannot be ruled out. This article is a compact and non-exhaustive review of past and current efforts to search for astrophysical wormholes in the Universe., 13 pages, 9 figures. Invited contribution to the special issue of Universe "Recent Advances in Wormhole Physics" (Eds. K.A. Bronnikov and S. Sushkov). Partially based on e-Print 2010.03947 [gr-qc], e-Print 2007.12184 [gr-qc], e-Print 1910.00429 [gr-qc], e-Print 1810.03432 [hep-th]. v2: added some references

Given the recent development of rotating black-bounce-Kerr spacetimes, for both theoretical and observational purposes it becomes interesting to see whether it might be possible to construct black-bounce variants of the entire Kerr-Newman family. Specifically, herein we shall consider black-bounce-Reissner-Nordstr\"om and black-bounce-Kerr-Newman spacetimes as particularly simple and clean everywhere-regular black hole "mimickers" that deviate from the Kerr-Newman family in a precisely controlled and minimal manner, and smoothly interpolate between regular black holes and traversable wormholes. While observationally the electric charges on astrophysical black holes are likely to be extremely low, $|Q|/m \ll 1$, introducing any non-zero electric charge has a significant theoretical impact. In particular, we verify the existence of a Killing tensor (and associated Carter-like constant) but without the full Killing tower of principal tensor and Killing-Yano tensor, also we discuss how, assuming general relativity, the black-bounce-Kerr-Newman solution requires an interesting, non-trivial matter/energy content., Comment: V1: 27 pages, 0 figures, 61 references. V2: Still 27 pages, 0 figures, no physics changes, 6 references added (now 67 references). V3: Published and final version, now 29 pages, 2 figures added, minor discussion added on page 17, 2 references added (now 69 references)

I give a historical survey of the discussions about the existence of closed timelike curves in general relativistic models of the universe, opening the physical possibility of time travel in the past, as first recognized by K. G\"odel in his rotating universe model of 1949. I emphasize that journeying into the past is intimately linked to spacetime models devoid of timelike singularities. Since such singularities arise as an inevitable consequence of the equations of general relativity given physically reasonable assumptions, time travel in the past becomes possible only when one or another of these assumptions is violated. It is the case with wormhole-type solutions. S. Hawking and other authors have tried to "save" the paradoxical consequences of time travel in the past by advocating physical mechanisms of chronological protection; however, such mechanisms remain presently unknown, even when quantum fluctuations near horizons are taken into account. I close the survey by a brief and pedestrian discussion of Causal Dynamical Triangulations, an approach to quantum gravity in which causality plays a seminal role., Comment: 11 pages

The recent opening of gravitational wave astronomy has shifted the debate about black hole mimickers from a purely theoretical arena to a phenomenological one. In this respect, missing a definitive quantum gravity theory, the possibility to have simple, meta-geometries describing in a compact way alternative phenomenologically viable scenarios is potentially very appealing. A recently proposed metric by Simpson and Visser is exactly an example of such meta-geometry describing, for different values of a single parameter, different non-rotating black hole mimickers. Here, we employ the Newman--Janis procedure to construct a rotating generalisation of such geometry. We obtain a stationary, axially symmetric metric that depends on mass, spin and an additional real parameter $\ell$. According to the value of such parameter, the metric may represent a rotating traversable wormhole, a rotating regular black hole with one or two horizons, or three more limiting cases. By studying the internal and external rich structure of such solutions, we show that the obtained metric describes a family of interesting and simple regular geometries providing viable Kerr black hole mimickers for future phenomenological studies., Comment: 20+ pages, lots of pictures; minor fixes, references added

The problem of bending and scattering of light rays passing outside from the entrance to a wormhole with zero gravitational mass is considered. The process of ray capture by a wormhole as well as the process of formation of a shadow when illuminated by a standard screen is investigated. These mechanisms are also compared to the case of motion of light rays in the vicinity of the Schwarzschild black hole., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures

We suggest two new scenarios of high-energy particle collisions in the background of a wormhole. In scenario 1, the novelty consists of the fact that the effect does not require two particles coming from different mouths. Instead, all such scenarios of high energy collisions develop, when an experimenter sends particles towards a wormhole from the same side of the throat. For static wormholes, this approach leads to indefinitely large energy in the center of mass. For rotating wormholes, it makes possible the super-Penrose process (unbounded energies measured at infinity). In scenario 2, one of colliding particles oscillates near the wormhole throat from the very beginning. In this sense, scenario 2 is intermediate between the standard one and scenario 1 since the particle under discussion does not come from infinity at all.

It is well known that static wormhole configurations in general relativity (GR) are possible only if matter threading the wormhole throat is &ldquo, exotic&rdquo, &mdash, i.e., violates a number of energy conditions. For this reason, it is impossible to construct static wormholes supported only by dust-like matter which satisfies all usual energy conditions. However, this is not the case for non-static configurations. In 1934, Tolman found a general solution describing the evolution of a spherical dust shell in GR. In this particular case, Tolman&rsquo, s solution describes the collapsing dust ball, the inner space-time structure of the ball corresponds to the Friedmann universe filled by a dust. In the present work we use the general Tolman&rsquo, s solution in order to construct a dynamic spherically symmetric wormhole solution in GR with dust-like matter. The solution constructed represents the collapsing dust ball with the inner wormhole space-time structure. It is worth noting that, with the dust-like matter, the ball is made of satisfies the usual energy conditions and cannot prevent the collapse. We discuss in detail the properties of the collapsing dust wormhole.

Are analyzed properties of Black Holes and Wormholes obtained by Einstein Theory of Gravitation (TGE) using the Schwarzschild, Eddington and Kruskal metrics. This article was written for undergraduate and graduate students of Physics. Key words: Einstein gravitation theory; black holes; wormholes.

We find a family of exact solutions to the Einstein&ndash, Maxwell equations for rotating cylindrically symmetric distributions of a perfect fluid with the equation of state p=w&rho, (|w|&lt, 1), carrying a circular electric current in the angular direction. This current creates a magnetic field along the z axis. Some of the solutions describe geometries resembling that of Melvin&rsquo, s static magnetic universe and contain a regular symmetry axis, while some others (in the case w&gt, 0) describe traversable wormhole geometries which do not contain a symmetry axis. Unlike Melvin&rsquo, s solution, those with rotation and a magnetic field cannot be vacuum and require a current. The wormhole solutions admit matching with flat-space regions on both sides of the throat, thus forming a cylindrical wormhole configuration potentially visible for distant observers residing in flat or weakly curved parts of space. The thin shells, located at junctions between the inner (wormhole) and outer (flat) regions, consist of matter satisfying the Weak Energy Condition under a proper choice of the free parameters of the model, which thus forms new examples of phantom-free wormhole models in general relativity. In the limit w&rarr, 1, the magnetic field tends to zero, and the wormhole model tends to the one obtained previously, where the source of gravity is stiff matter with the equation of state p=&rho

We find an exact, rotating charged black hole solution within Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity. To this end we employ a recently developed correspondence or {\it mapping} between modified gravity models built as scalars out of contractions of the metric with the Ricci tensor, and formulated in metric-affine spaces (Ricci-Based Gravity theories) and General Relativity. This way, starting from the Kerr-Newman solution, we show that this mapping bring us the axisymmetric solutions of Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity coupled to a certain model of non-linear electrodynamics. We discuss the most relevant physical features of the solutions obtained this way, both in the spherically symmetric limit and in the fully rotating regime. Moreover, we further elaborate on the potential impact of this important technical progress for bringing closer the predictions of modified gravity with the astrophysical observations of compact objects and gravitational wave astronomy., 17 double column pages, 7 figures, revtex4-1 style

The “ER = EPR” conjecture, conceived by Maldacena and Susskind, is grounded on the notion that a gravitational theory in the bulk is dual to the corresponding quantum field theory on the boundary in accordance to the AdS/CFT correspondence. The conjecture pertains to the idea that Einstein-Rosen (ER) spacetime bridges and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) quantum entanglement may be considered as dually equivalent. Since ER bridges refer to the connectivity between black holes, the “ER = EPR” conjecture implies that black holes connected by ER bridges are entangled, and conversely, that entangled black holes are connected by ER bridges. However, the instance of the maximally entangled tripartite (GHZ) quantum state points to the necessity of devising a model of non-classical Planck scale ER bridges going beyond the standard description of these bridges in spacetime. Based on the topological structure of the maximally entangled GHZ state, we propose that a universal topological link, called the Borromean rings, furnishes a particular linking structure that is able to unravel the equavalence between entanglement and wormholes, and thus, to address the validity of the “ER = EPR” conjecture beyond the initial context of the AdS/CFT correspondence. As a consequence, we propose the explicit construction of distinguishable extensions of the smooth classical spacetime manifold taking place in the transition to the quantum gravity regime according to a naturally induced physical criterion of gravitational generic properties following from this intrinsic topological qualification of the “ER = EPR” conjecture.

We classified and studied the charged black hole and wormhole solutions in the Einstein–Maxwell system in the presence of a massless, real scalar field. The possible existence of charged black holes in general scalar–tensor theories was studied in Bronnikov et al., 1999; black holes and wormholes exist for a negative kinetic term for the scalar field. Using a conformal transformation, the static, spherically symmetric possible structures in the minimal coupled system are described. Besides wormholes and naked singularities, only a restricted class of black hole exists, exhibiting a horizon with an infinite surface and a timelike central singularity. The black holes and wormholes defined in the Einstein frame have some specificities with respect to the non-minimal coupling original frame, which are discussed in the text.

We consider the generalized Tolman solution of general relativity, describing the evolution of a spherical dust cloud in the presence of an external electric or magnetic field. The solution contains three arbitrary functions f(R), F(R) and τ0(R), where R is a radial coordinate in the comoving reference frame. The solution splits into three branches corresponding to hyperbolic (f&gt, 0), parabolic (f=0) and elliptic (f&lt, 0) types of motion. In such models, we study the possible existence of wormhole throats defined as spheres of minimum radius at a fixed time instant, and prove the existence of throats in the elliptic branch under certain conditions imposed on the arbitrary functions. It is further shown that the normal to a throat is a timelike vector (except for the instant of maximum expansion, when this vector is null), hence a throat is in general located in a T-region of space-time. Thus, if such a dust cloud is placed between two empty (Reissner–Nordström or Schwarzschild) space-time regions, the whole configuration is a black hole rather than a wormhole. However, dust clouds with throats can be inscribed into closed isotropic cosmological models filled with dust to form wormholes which exist for a finite period of time and experience expansion and contraction together with the corresponding cosmology. Explicit examples and numerical estimates are presented. The possible traversability of wormhole-like evolving dust layers is established by a numerical study of radial null geodesics.

Journal of high energy physics 1709(09), 074 (2017). doi:10.1007/JHEP09(2017)074, Recently two of the authors proposed a mechanism of vacuum energy sequester as a means of protecting the observable cosmological constant from quantum radiative corrections. The original proposal was based on using global Lagrange multipliers, but later a local formulation was provided. Subsequently other interesting claims of a different non-local approach to the cosmological constant problem were made, based again on global Lagrange multipliers. We examine some of these proposals and find their mutual relationship. We explain that the proposals which do not treat the cosmological constant counterterm as a dynamical variable require fine tunings to have acceptable solutions. Furthermore, the counterterm often needs to be retuned at every order in the loop expansion to cancel the radiative corrections to the cosmological constant, just like in standard GR. These observations are an important reminder of just how the proposal of vacuum energy sequester avoids such problems., Published by Springer, Berlin

The current paper is devoted to investigating wormhole solutions with an exponential gravity model in the background of f ( R ) theory. Spherically symmetric static spacetime geometry is chosen to explore wormhole solutions with anisotropic fluid source. The behavior of the traceless matter is studied by employing a particular equation of state to describe the important properties of the shape-function of the wormhole geometry. Furthermore, the energy conditions and stability analysis are done for two specific shape-functions. It is seen that the energy condition are to be violated for both of the shape-functions chosen here. It is concluded that our results are stable and realistic.

In this work we study and compare the features of gravitational entropy near the throat of transversable wormholes formed by exotic matter and wormholes in galactic halos. We have verified that gravitational entropy and entropy density of these wormholes in regions near their throats are indistinguishable for objects of same throat, despite the fact they are described by different metrics and by distinct energy-momentum tensors. We have found that the gravitational entropy density diverges near the throat for both cases, probably due to a non-trivial topology at this point, however allowing the interesting interpretation that a maximum flux of information can be carried through the throat of these wormholes. In addition, we have found that both are endowed with an entropic behaviour similar to Hawking-Bekenstein's entropy of non-rotating and null charge black holes., 18 pages, 3 figures

We construct scalarized wormholes with a NUT charge in higher curvature theories. We consider both Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet and Einstein-scalar-Chern-Simons theories, following a recent paper by Brihaye et al. [1], where spontaneously scalarised Schwarzschild-NUT solutions were studied. By varying the coupling parameter and the scalar charge we determine the domain of existence of the scalarized nutty wormholes, and their dependence on the NUT charge. In the Gauss-Bonnet case the known set of scalarized wormholes [2] is reached in the limit of vanishing NUT charge. In the Chern-Simons case, however, the limit is peculiar, since with vanishing NUT charge the coupling constant diverges. We focus on scalarized nutty wormholes with a single throat and study their properties. All these scalarized nutty wormholes feature a critical polar angle, beyond which closed timelike curves are present., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures

We investigate binary lenses with $1/r^n$ potentials in the asymmetric case with two lenses with different indexes $n$ and $m$. These kinds of potentials have been widely used in several contexts, ranging from galaxies with halos described by different power laws to lensing by wormholes or exotic matter. In this paper, we present a complete atlas of critical curves and caustics for mixed binaries, starting from the equal-strength case, and then exploring unequal-strength systems. We also calculate the transitions between all different topology regimes. Finally we find some useful analytic approximations for the wide binary case and for the extreme unequal-strength case., Comment: 25 pages, 18 figures, in press on Universe, special issue Gravitational Lensing and Optical Geometry: A Centennial Perspective

We study a traversable wormhole originated by a transformation over the 4D Dymnikova metric which describes analytic Black-Holes (BH). By using a transformation of coordinates which is adapted from the used in the Einstein-Rosen bridge, we study a specific family of geodesics in which a test particle with non-zero electric charge induces an effective magnetic monopole, that is perceived by observers outside the wormhole. Because the Riemannian geometry cannot explain the presence of magnetic monopoles, then we propose a torsional geometry in order to explore the possibility that magnetic monopoles can be geometrically induced. We obtain an expression that relates torsion and magnetic fields jointly with a Dirac-like expression for magnetic and electric charges, such that torsion makes possible define a fundamental length that provides a magnetic field and a spacetime discretization., Comment: Version accepted in EPJP

We argue that one can nucleate a traversable wormhole via a nonperturbative process in quantum gravity. To support this, we construct spacetimes in which there are instantons giving a finite probability for a test cosmic string to break and produce two particles on its ends. One should be able to replace the particles with small black holes with only small changes to the spacetime away from the horizons. The black holes are then created with their horizons identified, so this is an example of nucleating a wormhole. Unlike previous examples where the created black holes accelerate apart, in our case they remain essentially at rest. This is important since wormholes become harder and harder to make traversable as their mouths become widely separated, and since traversability can be destroyed by Unruh radiation. In our case, back-reaction from quantum fields can make the wormhole traversable., Comment: 24 pages, 6 Figs, v2: comment added and a few typos corrected

In the Swampland philosophy of constraining EFTs from black hole mechanics we study charged black hole evaporation in de Sitter space. We establish how the black hole mass and charge change over time due to both Hawking radiation and Schwinger pair production as a function of the masses and charges of the elementary particles in the theory. We find a lower bound on the mass of charged particles by demanding that large charged black holes evaporate back to empty de Sitter space, in accordance with the thermal picture of the de Sitter static patch. This bound is satisfied by the charged spectrum of the Standard Model. We discuss phenomenological implications for the cosmological hierarchy problem and inflation. Enforcing the thermal picture also leads to a heuristic remnant argument for the Weak Gravity Conjecture in de Sitter space, where the usual kinematic arguments do not work. We also comment on a possible relation between WGC and universal bounds on equilibration times. All in all, charged black holes in de Sitter should make haste to evaporate, but they should not rush it., 38 pages + references, 5 figures, 1 conjecture v2: references added, minor modifications to text v3: corrected minor typos v4: corrected one typo

In general relativity, traversable wormholes are possible provided they do not represent shortcuts in the spacetime. Einstein equations, together with the achronal averaged null energy condition, demand to take longer for an observer to go through the wormhole than through the ambient space. This forbids wormholes from connecting two distant regions in the space. The situation is different when higher-curvature corrections are considered. Here, we construct a traversable wormhole solution connecting two asymptotically flat regions, otherwise disconnected. This geometry is an electrovacuum solution to the Lovelock theory of gravity coupled to an Abelian gauge field. The electric flux suffices to support the wormhole throat and to stabilize the solution. In fact, we show that, in contrast to other wormhole solutions previously found in this theory, the one constructed here turns out to be stable under scalar perturbations. We also consider wormholes in anti-de Sitter (AdS). We present a protection argument showing that, while stable traversable wormholes connecting two asymptotically locally AdS5 spaces do exist in the higher-curvature theory, the region of the parameter space where such solutions are admitted lies outside the causality bounds coming from AdS/CFT. Fil: Giribet, Gaston Enrique. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Rubín de Celis, Emilio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Simeone, Claudio Mauricio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina

This article describes the study of wormhole solutions in f(Q) gravity with noncommutative geometry. Here, we considered two different f(Q) models—a linear model f(Q)=αQ and an exponential model f(Q)=Q−α1−e−Q, where Q is the non-metricity and α is the model parameter. In addition, we discussed the existence of wormhole solutions with the help of the Gaussian and Lorentzian distributions of these linear and exponential models. We investigated the feasible solutions and graphically analyzed the different properties of these models by taking appropriate values for the parameter. Moreover, we used the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkov (TOV) equation to check the stability of the wormhole solutions that we obtained. Hence, we found that the wormhole solutions obtained with our models are physically capable and stable.

We discuss the possibility that the distribution of relic wormholes may possess fractal properties. Relic wormholes and their fractal distributions are predicted in a natural way by lattice quantum gravity models. This provides a new approach to some long standing problems. That is the nature of dark matter phenomena, the origin of Faber-Jackson and Tully-Fisher relations and the observed deficit of baryons. We derive corrections to the Newton’s potential caused by the presence of relic wormholes and show that the analysis of dark matter distribution in galaxies allows us to fix the parameters of the fractal distribution of wormholes.

Taking advantage of a previously developed method, which allows to map solutions of General Relativity into a broad family of theories of gravity based on the Ricci tensor (Ricci-based gravities), we find new exact analytical scalar field solutions by mapping the free-field static, spherically symmetric solution of General Relativity (GR) into quadratic $f(R)$ gravity and the Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity. The obtained solutions have some distinctive feature below the would-be Schwarzschild radius of a configuration with the same mass, though in this case no horizon is present. The compact objects found include wormholes, compact balls, shells of energy with no interior, and a new kind of object which acts as a kind of wormhole membrane. The latter object has Euclidean topology but connects antipodal points of its surface by transferring particles and null rays across its interior in virtually zero affine time. We point out the relevance of these results regarding the existence of compact scalar field objects beyond General Relativity that may effectively act as black hole mimickers., 11 pages, revtex4-1 style

Einstein&rsquo, s equations of general relativity (GR) can describe the connection between events within a given hypervolume of size L larger than the Planck length L P in terms of wormhole connections where metric fluctuations give rise to an indetermination relationship that involves the Riemann curvature tensor. At low energies (when L ≫ L P ), these connections behave like an exchange of a virtual graviton with wavelength &lambda, G = L as if gravitation were an emergent physical property. Down to Planck scales, wormholes avoid the gravitational collapse and any superposition of events or space&ndash, times become indistinguishable. These properties of Einstein&rsquo, s equations can find connections with the novel picture of quantum gravity (QG) known as the &ldquo, Einstein&ndash, Rosen (ER)=Einstein&ndash, Podolski&ndash, Rosen (EPR)&rdquo, (ER = EPR) conjecture proposed by Susskind and Maldacena in Anti-de-Sitter (AdS) space&ndash, times in their equivalence with conformal field theories (CFTs). In this scenario, non-traversable wormhole connections of two or more distant events in space&ndash, time through Einstein&ndash, Rosen (ER) wormholes that are solutions of the equations of GR, are supposed to be equivalent to events connected with non-local Einstein&ndash, Rosen (EPR) entangled states that instead belong to the language of quantum mechanics. Our findings suggest that if the ER = EPR conjecture is valid, it can be extended to other different types of space&ndash, times and that gravity and space&ndash, time could be emergent physical quantities if the exchange of a virtual graviton between events can be considered connected by ER wormholes equivalent to entanglement connections.

We consider the propagation of light along a 3D nanophotonic structure with the spatial shape of a spacetime containing a traversable wormhole. We show that waves experience significant changes of phase and group velocities when propagating along this curved space. This experiment can be realized with state-of-the-art nanophotonics technology., I am indebted to Rivka Bekenstein for useful comments and help. Financial support by Fundación General CSIC (Programa ComFuturo) and Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowship Programme from “la Caixa” Banking Foundation is acknowledged.

In the present work we search for a new wormhole solution inspired by noncommutative geometry with the additional condition of allowing conformal Killing vectors (CKV). A special aspect of noncommutative geometry is that it replaces point-like structures of gravitational sources with smeared objects under Gaussian distribution. However, the purpose of this paper is to obtain wormhole solutions with noncommutative geometry as a background where we consider a point-like structure of gravitational object without smearing effect. It is found through this investigation that wormhole solutions exist in this Lorentzian distribution with viable physical properties., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, Substantial modifications in the whole manuscript, Accepted in Phys. Lett. B

We consider the arbitrarily coupled field and self-force of a static massless scalar charge in cylindrical spacetimes with one or two asymptotic regions, with the only matter content concentrated in a thin-shell characterized by the trace of the extrinsic curvature jump $\kappa$. The self-force is studied numerically and analytically in terms of the curvature coupling $\xi$. We found the critical values $\xi_c^{(n)} = n/ ( \rho(r_s)\,\kappa )$, with $n \in \mathbb{N}$ and $\rho(r_s)$ the metric's profile function at the position of the shell, for which the scalar field is divergent in the background configuration. The pathological behavior is removed by restricting the coupling to a domain of stability. The coupling has a significant influence over the self-force at the vicinities of the shell, and we identified $\xi=1/4$ as the value for which the scalar force changes sign at a neighborhood of $r_s$; if $\kappa (1-4\xi)>0$ the shell acts repulsively as an effective potential barrier, while if $\kappa (1-4\xi), Comment: 9 figures

The vacuum polarization of the quantized scalar field with non-conformal coupling $\xi$ 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., Comment: 11 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1809.06182

The topic of Wormholes in distributed computing is about creating two different realms with different characteristics, the synchronous Wormholes and the asynchronous payload with the goal of using the wormholes to control the synchronism of the payload processes. We describe the characteristics of Wormholes in distributed computing, and relate them to issues in Physics, specifically, wormholes in general relativity and entanglement in quantum mechanics. The entanglement in quantum mechanics is about the existence of fixed relations between different physical systems as if they were still the same system. The entanglement is made evident by the occurrence of decoherence, which transform the multiple outcome possibilities of quantum systems into a single outcome “classical physics”-like objective reality. It is here presented the similarity between the decoherence process in quantum physics and the consensus problem in distributed computing. The approach to quantum mechanics used is quantum Darwinism, a Darwinian approach to decoherence where the environment controls the outcome of a measurement. It is here proposed that wormhole systems can be used to implement environment-based control of distributed computing systems., Many thanks to Eduarda Gavino. The work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Gauge symmetries are known to be respected by gravity because gauge charges carry flux lines, but global charges do not carry flux lines and are not conserved by gravitational interaction. For discrete symmetries, they are spontaneously broken in the Universe, forming domain walls. Since the realization of discrete symmetries in the Universe must involve the vacuum expectation values of Higgs fields, a string-like configuration (hair) at the intersection of domain walls in the Higgs vacua can be realized. Therefore, we argue that discrete charges are also respected by gravity., 9 pages,9 figures

Many of the most exciting open problems in high-energy physics are related to the behavior and ultimate nature of gravity and spacetime. In this dissertation, several categories of new results in quantum and classical gravity are presented, with applications to our understanding of both quantum field theory and cosmology. A fundamental open question in quantum field theory is related to ultraviolet completion: Which low-energy effective field theories can be consistently combined with quantum gravity? A celebrated example of the swampland program---the investigation of this question---is the weak gravity conjecture, which mandates, for a U(1) gauge field coupled consistently to gravity, the existence of a state with charge-to-mass ratio greater than unity. In this thesis, we demonstrate the tension between the weak gravity conjecture and the naturalness principle in quantum field theory, generalize the weak gravity conjecture to multiple gauge fields, and exhibit a model in which the weak gravity conjecture solves the standard model hierarchy problem. Next, we demonstrate that gravitational effective field theories can be constrained by infrared physics principles alone, namely, analyticity, unitarity, and causality. In particular, we derive bounds related to the weak gravity conjecture by placing such infrared constraints on higher-dimension operators in a photon-graviton effective theory. We furthermore place bounds on higher-curvature corrections to the Einstein equations, first using analyticity of graviton scattering amplitudes and later using unitarity of an arbitrary tree-level completion, as well as constrain the couplings in models of massive gravity. Completing our treatment of perturbative quantum gravity, outside of the swampland program, we also reformulate graviton perturbation theory itself, finding a field redefinition and gauge-fixing of the Einstein-Hilbert action that drastically simplifies the Feynman diagram expansion. Furthermore, our reformulation also exhibits a hidden symmetry of general relativity that corresponds to the double copy relations equating gravity amplitudes to sums of squares of gluon amplitudes in Yang-Mills theory, a surprising correspondence that yields insights into the structure of quantum field theories. Moving beyond perturbation theory into nonperturbative questions in quantum gravity, we consider the deep relation between spacetime geometry and properties of the quantum state. In the context of holography and the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory correspondence, we test the proposed ER=EPR correspondence equating quantum entanglement with wormholes in spacetime. In particular, we demonstrate that the no-cloning theorem in quantum mechanics and the no-go theorem for topology change of spacetime are dual under the ER=EPR correspondence. Furthermore, we prove that the presence of a wormhole is not an observable in quantum gravity, rescuing ER=EPR from potential violation of linearity of quantum mechanics. Excitingly, we also prove a new area theorem within classical general relativity for arbitrary dynamics of two collections of wormholes and black holes; this area theorem is the ER=EPR analogue of entanglement conservation. We next turn our attention to the emergence of spacetime itself, placing consistency conditions on the proposed correspondence between anti-de Sitter space and the Multiscale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz, a special tensor network that constitutes a computational tool for finding the ground state of certain quantum systems. Further examining the role of quantum entanglement entropy in the emergence of general relativity, we ask whether there is a consistent microscopic formulation of the entropy in theories of entropic gravity; we find that our results weaken equation-of-state proposals for entropic gravity while strengthening those more akin to holography, guiding future investigation of theories of emergent gravity. Finally, we examine the consequences of the Hamiltonian constraint in classical gravity for the early universe. The Hamiltonian constraint allows for the Liouville measure on the phase space of cosmological parameters for homogeneous, isotropic universes to be converted into a probability distribution on trajectories, or equivalently, on initial conditions. However, this measure diverges on the set of spacetimes that are spatially flat, like the observable universe. In this thesis, we derive the unique, classical, Hamiltonian-conserved measure for the subset of flat universes. This result allows for distinction between different models of cosmic inflation with similar observable predictions; for example, we find that the measure favors models of large-scale inflation, as such potentials more naturally produce the number of e-folds necessary to match cosmological observations.

© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl. We study solutions obtained via applying dualities and complexifications to the vacuum Weyl metrics generated by massive rods and by point masses. Rescaling them and extending to complex parameter values yields axially symmetric vacuum solutions containing singularities along circles that can be viewed as singular matter sources. These solutions have wormhole topology with several asymptotic regions interconnected by throats and their sources can be viewed as thin rings of negative tension encircling the throats. For a particular value of the ring tension the geometry becomes exactly flat although the topology remains non-trivial, so that the rings literally produce holes in flat space. To create a single ring wormhole of one metre radius one needs a negative energy equivalent to the mass of Jupiter. Further duality transformations dress the rings with the scalar field, either conventional or phantom. This gives rise to large classes of static, axially symmetric solutions, presumably including all previously known solutions for a gravity-coupled massless scalar field, as for example the spherically symmetric Bronnikov-Ellis wormholes with phantom scalar. The multi-wormholes contain infinite struts everywhere at the symmetry axes, apart from solutions with locally flat geometry.

In this paper we give an electrically charged traversable wormhole solution for the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory when the dilaton is a phantom field, i.e. it has flipped sign kinetic term appearing in the action. In the limit when the charge is zero, we recover the anti-Fisher solution, which can be reduced to the Bronnikov-Ellis solution under certain choices of integration constants. The equations of motion of this theory share the same S-duality invariance of string theory, so the electrically charged solution is rotated into the magnetically charged one by applying such transformations. The scalar field is topological, so we compute its topological charge, and discuss that under appropriate boundary conditions we can have a lump, a kink, or an anti-kink profile. We determine the position of the throat, and show the embedding diagram of the wormhole. As a physical application, we apply the Gauss-Bonnet theorem to compute the deflection angle of a light-ray that passes close to the wormhole., Comment: v3: Solution and deflection angle written in terms of asymptotic charges. Matches the published version, Classical and Quantum Gravity (2017)

Potentiality of the presence of traversable wormholes in the outer/inner regions of the halos of galaxies, situated on the Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) density profile and Universal Rotation Curve (URC) dark matter models have been investigated recently. Since this covers our own galaxy also as a possible home for traversable wormholes it prompts us to further the subject by considering alternative density distributions. From this token herein we make use of the Einasto model to describe the density profiles for the same purpose. Our choice for the latter is based on the fact that theoretical dark matter halos produced in computer simulations are best described by such a profile. For technical reasons we trim the number of parameters in the Einasto profile to a possible minimum. Based on such a model it is shown that traversable wormholes in the outer regions of spiral galaxies are possible while the inner part regions prohibit such formations., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science

We review the General Relativistic model of a (quasi) point-like particle represented by a massive shell of neutral matter which has vanishing total energy in the small-volume limit. We then show that, by assuming a Generalised Uncertainty Principle, which implies the existence of a minimum length of the order of the Planck scale, the total energy instead remains finite and equal to the shell's proper mass both for very heavy and very light particles. This suggests that the quantum structure of space-time might be related to the classical Equivalence Principle and possible implications for the late stage of evaporating black holes are briefly mentioned., 5 pages, 3 figures, revtex4 style

In this work, we find exact wormhole solutions in the context of noncommutative geometry, and further explore their physical properties and characteristics. The energy density of these wormhole geometries is a smeared and particle-like gravitational source, where the mass is diffused throughout a region of linear dimension $\sqrt{\alpha}$ due to the intrinsic uncertainty encoded in the coordinate commutator. Furthermore, we also analyze these wormhole geometries considering that the equation governing quantum fluctuations behaves as a backreaction equation. In particular, the energy density of the graviton one loop contribution to a classical energy in a traversable wormhole background and the finite one loop energy density is considered as a self-consistent source for these wormhole geometries. Interesting solutions are found for an appropriate range of the parameters, validating the perturbative computation introduced in this semi-classical approach., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Final version to appear in PLB. References added and one figure

We investigate the caustic topologies for binary gravitational lenses made up of two objects whose gravitational potential declines as $1/r^n$. With $n1$ regime can be obtained with some violations of the energy conditions, one famous example being the Ellis wormhole. Gravitational lensing provides a natural arena to distinguish and identify such exotic objects in our Universe. We find that there are still three topologies for caustics as in the standard Schwarzschild binary lens, with the main novelty coming from the secondary caustics of the close topology, which become huge at higher $n$. After drawing caustics by numerical methods, we derive a large amount of analytical formulae in all limits that are useful to provide deeper insight in the mathematics of the problem. Our study is useful to better understand the phenomenology of galaxy lensing in clusters as well as the distinct signatures of exotic matter in complex systems., 28 pages, 19 figures, focus expanded to galactic haloes

© 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd.In 1921 Bach and Weyl derived the method of superposition to construct new axially symmetric vacuum solutions of general relativity. In this paper we extend the Bach-Weyl approach to non-vacuum configurations with massless scalar fields. Considering a phantom scalar field with the negative kinetic energy, we construct a multi-wormhole solution describing an axially symmetric superposition of N wormholes. The solution found is static, everywhere regular and has no event horizons. These features drastically tell the multi-wormhole configuration from other axially symmetric vacuum solutions which inevitably contain gravitationally inert singular structures, such as 'struts' and 'membranes', that keep the two bodies apart making a stable configuration. However, the multi-wormholes are static without any singular struts. Instead, the stationarity of the multi-wormhole configuration is provided by the phantom scalar field with the negative kinetic energy. Anther unusual property is that the multi-wormhole spacetime has a complicated topological structure. Namely, in the spacetime there exist 2N asymptotically flat regions connected by throats.

Using Weitzenb\"ock Induced Matter Theory (WIMT), we study Schwarzschild wormholes performing different foliations on an extended (non-vaccuum) 5D manifold. We explore the geodesic equations for observers which are in the interior of a traversable wormhole and how these observers can detect gravito-magnetic monopoles which are dual to gravito-electric sources observed in the outer zone of some Schwarzschild Black-Hole (BH). The densities of these monopoles are calculated and quantized in the Dirac sense. This kind of duality on the extended Einstein-Maxwell equations, relates electric and magnetic charges on causally disconnected space regions., Comment: Version accepted in Phys. Dark Univ

There are some gravitational theories in which the ordinary energy-momentum conservation law is not valid in the curved space-time. Rastall gravity is one of the known theories in this regard, which includes a non-minimal coupling between geometry and matter fields. Equipped with the basis of such theory, we study the properties of traversable wormholes with flat asymptotes. We investigate the possibility of exact solutions by a source with the baryonic matter state parameter. Our survey indicates that Rastall theory has considerable effects on the wormhole characteristics. In addition, we study various case studies and show that the weak energy condition may be met for some solutions. We also give a discussion regarding traversibility of such wormhole geometry with phantom sources. © 2017 Published by NRC Research Press., Research Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics of Maragha

We study the structure of a family of static, spherically symmetric space-times generated by an anisotropic fluid and governed by a particular type of $f(R)$ theory. We find that for a range of parameters with physical interest, such solutions represent black holes with the central singularity replaced by a finite size wormhole. We show that time-like geodesics and null geodesics with nonzero angular momentum never reach the wormhole throat due to an infinite potential barrier. For null radial geodesics, it takes an infinite affine time to reach the wormhole. This means that the resulting space-time is geodesically complete and, therefore, nonsingular despite the generic existence of curvature divergences at the wormhole throat., Universe special issue: Open questions in black hole physics

In this article, we consider the Hawking radiation (HR) of vector (massive spin-1) particles from the traversable Lorentzian wormholes (TLWH) in 3+1 dimensions. We start by providing the Proca equations for the TLWH. Using the Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ)ans\"{a}tz with the WKB approximation in the quantum tunneling method, we obtain the probabilities of the emission/absorption modes. Then, we derive the tunneling rate of the emitted vector particles and manage to read the standard Hawking temperature of the TLWH. The result obtained represents a negative temperature, which is also discussed., Comment: 4 pages

This Letter deals with the study of the accretion of a generalized Chaplygin gas with equation of state p=-A/ρα onto wormholes. We have obtained that when dominant energy condition is violated the size of wormhole increases with the scale factor up to a given plateau. On the regime where the dominant energy condition is satisfied our model predicts a steady decreasing of the wormhole size as generalized Chaplygin gas is accreted. Our main conclusion is that the big trip mechanism is prevented in a large region of the physical parameters of the used model. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., We acknowledge P.F. González-Díaz, María del Prado Martín and Milagros Rodríguez for constructive discussions and criticisms. This work was supported by DGICYT under Research Projects BMF2002-03758 and BFM2002-00778.