Non-exotic matter wormholes in a trace of the energy-momentum tensor squared gravity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that by incorporating quadratic terms in the trace of the energy-momentum tensor into gravity theories, it is possible to find wormhole solutions that do not require exotic matter, unlike in standard General Relativity.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel approach using quadratic trace corrections to achieve non-exotic matter wormholes within modified gravity theories.

Findings

Wormhole solutions without exotic matter are possible with quadratic trace corrections.

The formalism modifies the effective energy-momentum tensor to allow standard matter to support wormholes.

The approach broadens the scope of viable wormhole models in alternative gravity theories.

Abstract

Wormholes are tunnels connecting two different points in space-time. In Einstein's General Relativity theory, wormholes are expected to be filled by exotic matter, i.e., matter that does not satisfy the energy conditions and may have negative density. We propose, in this paper, the achievement of wormhole solutions with no need for exotic matter. In order to achieve so, we consider quadratic terms in the trace of the energy-momentum tensor as corrections to the effective energy-momentum tensor of the underlined theory of gravity. We show that by following this formalism, it is possible, indeed, to obtain non-exotic matter wormhole solutions.