Peculiarities of quantum field theory in the presence of a wormhole

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a traversable wormhole affects quantum field theory, revealing a doubling of quantum states due to the wormhole's topological structure, with implications for understanding quantum phenomena in such exotic spacetimes.

Contribution

It demonstrates the doubling of quantum states in a scalar field theory caused by a wormhole's topology, extending previous results from Schwarzschild spacetime.

Findings

Quantum states are doubled in the presence of a wormhole.

Degenerate states are localized in different universes connected by the wormhole.

Topological structure causes the degeneracy of quantum states.

Abstract

In this paper, quantum theory of a real massive scalar field in the background of a traversable wormhole is examined. The wormhole is supposed to connect two different universes; as a particular example the simplest Ellis wormhole is considered. It is shown that the resulting theory possesses a doubling of quantum states parametrized by the same value of asymptotic momentum; two different sets of such degenerate states are localized in different universes. This is a consequence of the topological structure of the wormhole spacetime, which is the same as the topological structure of the Schwarzschild spacetime providing a similar degeneracy of quantum states.