Conformal symmetry wormholes and the null energy condition

TL;DR

This paper explores how conformal symmetry can explain the exotic matter required to sustain wormholes, showing that conformal factors provide necessary degrees of freedom in various models, including noncommutative geometry.

Contribution

It demonstrates that conformal symmetry can account for the exotic matter in wormholes, extending the analysis to noncommutative geometry and thin shell models.

Findings

Conformal factors provide the extra degree of freedom for exotic matter.

Wormholes can have positive surface density and violate the null energy condition.

The approach applies to both classical and noncommutative-geometry wormholes.

Abstract

In this paper we seek a relationship between the assumption of conformal symmetry and the exotic matter needed to hold a wormhole open. By starting with a Morris-Thorne wormhole having a constant energy density, it is shown that the conformal factor provides the extra degree of freedom sufficient to account for the exotic matter. The same holds for Morris-Thorne wormholes in a noncommutative-geometry setting. Applied to thin shells, there would exist a radius that results in a wormhole with positive surface density and negative surface pressure and which violates the null energy condition on the thin shell.