Abstract
Recent solutions to the Einstein Field Equations involving negative energy densities, i.e., matter violating the weak-energy-condition, have been obtained, namely traversable wormholes, the Alcubierre warp drive and the Krasnikov tube. These solutions are related to superluminal travel, although locally the speed of light is not surpassed. It is difficult to define faster-than-light travel in generic space-times, and one can construct metrics which apparently allow superluminal travel, but are in fact flat Minkowski space-times. Therefore, to avoid these dificulties it is important to provide an appropriate definition of superluminal travel.
We investigate these problems and the relationship between weak-energy-condition violation and superluminal travel.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
M. Morris, K.S. Thorne: Am. J. Phys. 56, 395–412 (1988)
M. Visser: Lorentzian wormholes: From Einstein to Hawking (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1995)
M. Alcubierre: Class. Quantum Grav. 11, L73–L77 (1994)
S.V. Krasnikov: Phys. Rev. D57, 4760 (1998) gr-qc/9511068
A.E. Everett, T.A. Roman: Phys. Rev. D56, 2100 (1997) gr-qc/9702049
M. Visser, B. Bassett, S. Liberati: ‘Perturbative superluminal censorship and the null energy condition’. In: Proceedings of the Eighth Canadian Conference on General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics (AIP Press 1999) gr-qc/9908023
M. Visser, B. Bassett, S. Liberati: Nucl. Phys. Proc.Suppl. 88, 267–270 (2000) gr-qc/9810026
K. Olum: Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3567–3570 (1998) gr-qc/9805003
L.H. Ford, T.A. Roman: Phys. Rev. D51, 4277 (1995)
W.A. Hiscock: Class. Quantum Grav. 14, L183 (1997) gr-qc/9707024
C. Clark, W.A. Hiscock, S.L. Larson: Class. Quantum Grav. 16, 3965 (1999) grqc/9907019
P.F. González-Díaz: gr-qc/9907026 (1999)
R.M. Wald: General Relativity (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1984)
S.W. Hawking, G.F.R. Ellis: The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime (Cambridge University Press, London, 1973)
L.H. Ford: Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A 56, 227 (1978)
L.H. Ford: Phys. Rev. D43, 3972 (1991)
L.H. Ford, T.A. Roman: Phys. Rev. D53, 5496 (1999) gr-qc/9510071
M.J. Pfenning, L.H. Ford: Class. Quantum Grav. 14, 1743 (1997) gr-qc/9702026 Weak Energy Condition Violation and Superluminal Travel 291
C. van den Broeck: Class. Quantum Grav. 16, 3973–3979 (1999) gr-qc/9905084
F. Lobo, P. Crawford: ‘Constraints on wormhole geometries’. In: The Ninth Marcel Grossmann Meeting Proceedings. ed. by Vahe G. Gurzadyan, Robert Jantzen, Remo Ruffini (World Scientific, Singapore, 2002) pp. 855–856
C. Barceló, M. Visser: Class. Quantum Grav. 17, 3843 (2000) gr-qc/0003025
M.J. Pfenning, L.H. Ford: Phys. Rev. D55, 4813 (1997)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lobo, F., Crawford, P. (2003). Weak Energy Condition Violation and Superluminal Travel. In: Fernández-Jambrina, L., González-Romero, L.M. (eds) Current Trends in Relativistic Astrophysics. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 617. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36973-2_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36973-2_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-01983-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-36973-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive