Wormhole geometries in f(R) modified theories of gravity

TL;DR

This paper constructs traversable wormhole solutions within f(R) gravity, showing that higher order curvature terms can sustain wormholes without exotic matter, unlike in general relativity.

Contribution

It provides exact solutions for wormholes in f(R) theories where matter satisfies energy conditions, attributing the wormhole support to curvature effects.

Findings

Higher order curvature terms act as a gravitational fluid.

Exact wormhole solutions are derived for specific shape functions.

Matter threading the wormholes satisfies energy conditions.

Abstract

In this work, we construct traversable wormhole geometries in the context of f(R) modified theories of gravity. We impose that the matter threading the wormhole satisfies the energy conditions, so that it is the effective stress-energy tensor containing higher order curvature derivatives that is responsible for the null energy condition violation. Thus, the higher order curvature terms, interpreted as a gravitational fluid, sustain these non-standard wormhole geometries, fundamentally different from their counterparts in general relativity. In particular, by considering specific shape functions and several equations of state, exact solutions for f(R) are found.