Related papers: How Much NEC Breaking Can the Universe Endure?
The violation of the null energy condition (NEC) is essential for constructing nonsingular cosmological scenarios, such as Genesis cosmology, which avoids the initial singularity by initiating cosmic evolution from an asymptotically…
The null energy condition (NEC), an important assumption of the Penrose singularity theorem, is violated by quantum fields. The natural generalization of the NEC in quantum field theory, the renormalized null energy averaged over a finite…
The classic singularity theorems of General Relativity rely on energy conditions that can be violated in semiclassical gravity. Here, we provide motivation for an energy condition obeyed by semiclassical gravity: the smeared null energy…
Field theories which violate the null energy condition (NEC) are of interest for the solution of the cosmological singularity problem and for models of cosmological dark energy with the equation of state parameter $w<-1$. We discuss the…
The classical singularity theorems of General Relativity rely on energy conditions that are easily violated by quantum fields. Here, we provide motivation for an energy condition obeyed in semiclassical gravity: the smeared null energy…
In the context of Einstein gravity, if the null energy condition (NEC) is satisfied, the energy density in expanding space-times always decreases while in contracting space-times the energy density grows and the universe eventually…
We study violations of the Null Energy Condition (NEC) in Quantum Field Theory (QFT) and their implications. For the first part of the project, we examine these violations for classes of already known and novel (first discussed here) QFT…
We propose a new bound on the average null energy along a finite portion of a null geodesic. We believe our bound is valid on scales small compared to the radius of curvature in any quantum field theory that is consistently coupled to…
We investigate whether the null energy, averaged over some region of spacetime, is bounded below in QFT. First, we use light-sheet quantization to prove a version of the "Smeared Null Energy Condition" (SNEC) proposed in [1], applicable for…
The Quantum Null Energy Condition (QNEC) is a new local energy condition that a general Quantum Field Theory (QFT) is believed to satisfy, relating the classical null energy condition (NEC) to the second functional derivative of the…
The quantum null energy condition (QNEC) is a conjectured relation between a null version of quantum field theory energy and derivatives of quantum field theory von Neumann entropy. In some cases, divergences cancel between these two terms…
The quantum null energy condition (QNEC) is a conjectured bound on components $(T_{kk} = T_{ab} k^a k^b$) of the stress tensor along a null vector $k^a$ at a point $p$ in terms of a second $k$-derivative of the von Neumann entropy $S$ on…
Considerable interest has recently been expressed regarding the issue of whether or not quantum field theory on a fixed but curved background spacetime satisfies the averaged null energy condition (ANEC). A comment by Wald and Yurtsever…
Null Energy Condition (NEC) requires the equation of state (EoS) of the universe $w_u$ satisfy $w_u\geq-1$, which implies, for instance in a universe with matter and dark energy dominating…
Eternal inflation is shown to require violations of the Null Energy Condition (NEC) on superhorizon scales. With light scalar fields as the matter sources in a de Sitter background, there can be no classical or semiclassical violations of…
The expected stress-energy tensor <T_{ab}> of quantum fields generically violates the local positive energy conditions of general relativity. However, <T_{ab}> may satisfy some nonlocal conditions such as the averaged null energy condition…
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…
The violation of the null energy condition (NEC) may play a crucial role in enabling a scalar field to climb over high potential barriers, potentially significant in the very early universe. We propose a single-field model where the…
In discussions of Bousso's Covariant Entropy Bound, the Null Energy Condition is always assumed, as a sufficient {\em but not necessary} condition which helps to ensure that the entropy on any lightsheet shall necessarily be finite. The…
We clarify the role of the oft-misunderstood Null Energy Condition (NEC) in the context of the current cosmological data. In particular, the NEC implies the sum of the total energy density and pressure satisfies $\rho_{tot}+P_{tot} \ge 0$;…