Related papers: Positive thinking: A search for energy conditions
We consider the familiar junction conditions described by Israel for thin timelike walls in Einstein-Hilbert gravity. One such condition requires the induced metric to be continuous across the wall. Now, there are many spacetimes with…
We discuss quantum inequalities for minimally coupled scalar fields in static spacetimes. These are inequalities which place limits on the magnitude and duration of negative energy densities. We derive a general expression for the quantum…
Nonclassical states of light play a central role in many quantum information protocols. Their quantum features have been exploited to improve the readout of information from digital memories, modelled as arrays of microscopic beam splitters…
We study the Energy Conditions in modified $f(G)$ gravity, with $G$ being the topological Gauss-Bonnet term. Then we use the cosmographic parameters to constrain the functional form of the gravitational action and investigate the…
In considering alternative higher-order gravity theories, one is liable to be motivated in pursuing models consistent and inspired by several candidates of a fundamental theory of quantum gravity. Indeed, motivations from string/M-theory…
A scalar field in (2+1) dimensional Minkowski space-time is considered. Postulating noncommutative spatial coordinates, one is able to determine the (UV finite) vacuum expectation value of the quantum field energy momentum tensor.…
We analyze the Lagrangian density and canonical stress-energy tensor for the Dirac equation, where the Dirac bispinor has been recast as a multivector set of fields. For the massless Dirac field, the sign of the energy density is determined…
There is now strong evidence that the main contribution to the cosmic energy density is not due to matter, but to another component with negative pressure. Its nature is still unknown: it could be the vacuum energy, manifesting itself as a…
We prove global existence for solutions arising from small initial data for a large class of quasilinear wave equations satisfying the `weak null condition' of Lindblad and Rodnianski, significantly enlarging upon the class of equations for…
We propose that the solution to the cosmological vacuum energy puzzle may come from the infrared sector of the effective theory of gravity, where the impact of the trace anomaly is of upmost relevance. We proceed by introducing two…
In the standard cosmological framework of the 0th-order FLRW metric and the use of perfect fluids in the stress-energy tensor, dark energy with an equation-of-state parameter $w < -1$ (known as phantom dark energy) implies negative kinetic…
We analyse the impact of positivity conditions on static spherically symmetric deformations of the Schwarzschild space-time. The metric is taken to satisfy, at least asymptotically, the Einstein equation in the presence of a non-trivial…
We begin a systematic study of Quantum Energy Inequalities (QEIs) in relation to local covariance. We define notions of locally covariant QEIs of both 'absolute' and 'difference' types and show that existing QEIs satisfy these conditions.…
Energy is at best defined quasilocally in general relativity. Quasilocal energy definitions depend on the conditions one imposes on the boundary Hamiltonian, i.e., how a finite region of spacetime is "isolated". Here, we propose a method to…
There has been much recent work on quantum inequalities to constrain negative energy. These are uncertainty principle-type restrictions on the magnitude and duration of negative energy densities or fluxes. We consider several examples of…
I review the problem of dark energy focusing on the cosmological constant as the candidate and discuss its implications for the nature of gravity. Part 1 briefly overviews the currently popular `concordance cosmology' and summarises the…
The negative energy density of Casimir systems appears to violate general relativity energy conditions. However, one cannot test the averaged null energy condition (ANEC) using standard calculations for perfectly reflecting plates, because…
To explore whether there is new physics going beyond the standard cosmological model or not, we constrain seven cosmological models by combining the latest and largest Pantheon Type Ia supernovae sample with the data combination of baryonic…
We define the state of minimum energy while the expectation values of the field operators and their time derivatives in a determined moment in such a state are constrained. As an axiom, we consider such a state as the background of the…
The condensed matter examples, in which the effective gravity appears in the low-energy corner as one of the collective modes of quantum vacuum, provide a possible answer to the question, why the vacuum energy is so small. This answer comes…