Stable, thin wall, negative mass bubbles in de Sitter space-time

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the existence of stable, static, negative mass bubbles in de Sitter space-time that satisfy energy conditions, providing insights into their stability, dynamics, and potential implications for cosmic censorship.

Contribution

It introduces the first stable, static negative mass bubble solutions in de Sitter space-time that satisfy the dominant energy condition, analyzing their stability and dynamics.

Findings

Stable, static negative mass bubbles exist in de Sitter space-time.

Unstable solutions can collapse into negative mass Schwarzschild-de Sitter space.

Stable solutions require radius-dependent energy density on the bubble wall.

Abstract

Negative mass makes perfect physical sense as long as the dominant energy condition is satisfied by the corresponding energy-momentum tensor. Heretofore, only {\it configurations} of negative mass had been found \cite{Belletete:2013nqa,Mbarek:2014ppa}, the analysis did not address stability or dynamics. In this paper, we analyze both of these criteria. We demonstrate the existence of {\it stable}, static, negative mass bubbles in an asymptotically de Sitter space-time. The bubbles are solutions of the Einstein equations and correspond to an interior region of space-time containing a specific mass distribution, separated by a thin wall from the exact, negative mass Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time in the exterior. We apply the Israel junction conditions at the wall. For the case of an interior corresponding simply to de Sitter space-time with a different cosmological constant from the outside space-time, separated by a thin wall with energy density that is independent of the radius, we find static but unstable solutions which satisfy the dominant energy condition everywhere. The bubbles can collapse through spherically symmetric configurations to the exact, singular, negative mass Schwarzschild-de Sitter solution. Interestingly, this provides a counter-example of the cosmic censorship hypothesis. Alternatively, the junction conditions can be used to give rise to an interior mass distribution that depends on the potential for the radius of the wall. We show that for no choice of the potential, for positive energy density on the wall that is independent of the radius, can we get a solution that is non-singular at the origin. However, if we allow the energy density on the wall to depend on the radius of the bubble, we can find {\it stable}, static, non-singular solutions of negative mass which everywhere satisfy the dominant energy condition.