English

No realistic wormholes from ghost-free scalar-tensor phantom dark energy

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2008-11-26 v1 Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

It is proved that no wormholes can be formed in viable scalar-tensor models of dark energy admitting its phantom-like (w<1w < -1) behaviour in cosmology, even in the presence of electric or magnetic fields, if the non-minimal coupling function f(Φ)f(\Phi) is everywhere positive and the scalar field Φ\Phi itself is not a ghost. Some special static, spherically symmetric wormhole solutions may exist if f(Φ)f(\Phi) is allowed to reach zero or to become negative, so that the effective gravitational constant becomes negative in some region making the graviton a ghost. If ff remains non-negative, such solutions require severe fine tuning and a very peculiar kind of model. If f<0f < 0 is allowed, it is argued (and confirmed by previous investigations) that such solutions are generically unstable under non-static perturbations, the instability appearing right near transition surfaces to negative ff.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0612032,
  title  = {No realistic wormholes from ghost-free scalar-tensor phantom dark energy},
  author = {Kirill A. Bronnikov and Alexei A. Starobinsky},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0612032},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

8 pages, latex