The Spacetime Metric

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Aron C. Wall

Professor of physics, Syracuse University

Wall studies quantum gravity and black-hole thermodynamics. He derived a quantum singularity theorem from the generalized second law under stated assumptions. With Ping Gao and Daniel Jafferis, he showed how a coupling between boundaries can make a model wormhole traversable. These are theoretical results, not demonstrations of a transport device.

Affiliations

  • Syracuse University, Department of Physics

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Bibliography

A bibliography listing does not establish authorship. Credits appear under attribution.

Published bibliography entries: 2. Showing 1–2 of 2.

  1. Listed work

    Paper · 2017

    Traversable Wormholes via a Double Trace Deformation

    1. Ping Gao(Author)
    2. Daniel Louis Jafferis(Author)
    3. Aron C. Wall(Author)

    Ping Gao, Daniel Jafferis and Aron Wall address a central obstacle to traversable wormholes: they need matter that violates the null energy condition, which reasonable classical theories obey. Coupling the two boundaries of an eternal BTZ black hole produces a quantum matter stress tensor with negative average null energy. Its gravitational backreaction makes the Einstein-Rosen bridge traversable. The bridge becomes slightly traversable, opening by an amount proportional to the strength of the two-boundary coupling. In the ER=EPR picture the wormhole may relate to quantum teleportation, while still respecting causality. They expect a similar effect in higher dimensions and discuss implications for energy and holographic entropy in the dual conformal field theory.

  2. Listed work

    Paper · 2013

    The Generalized Second Law implies a Quantum Singularity Theorem

    1. Aron C Wall(Author)

    Aron Wall uses the generalised second law of thermodynamics to prove a quantum singularity theorem, extending the idea of a trapped surface to quantum situations. Like Penrose's theorem, it implies null geodesic incompleteness inside black holes and in the past of spatially infinite Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies. If space is finite, the past can hold only finitely many entropy-producing processes unless the arrow of time reverses. In asymptotically flat spacetime the law also forbids traversable wormholes, negative masses, faster-than-light travel between asymptotic regions and closed timelike curves. Because the semiclassical approximation is used only at low curvature, the results may hold in full quantum gravity.