Space Time Foam: a ground state candidate for Quantum Gravity

TL;DR

This paper proposes a model of space-time foam composed of wormholes, computes its Casimir energy, and concludes that Reissner-Nordström wormholes are unsuitable for representing the foam, advancing quantum gravity research.

Contribution

It introduces a space-time foam model based on wormholes and calculates its Casimir energy using phase shift and variational methods, clarifying the types of wormholes suitable for the model.

Findings

Reissner-Nordström wormholes are unsuitable for the foam model.

Casimir energy computed aligns with previous variational approaches.

The model advances understanding of quantum gravity structures.

Abstract

A model of space-time foam, made by $N$ wormholes is considered. The Casimir energy leading to such a model is computed by means of the phase shift method which is in agreement with the variational approach used in Refs.[9-14]. The collection of Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m wormholes are separately considered to represent the foam. The Casimir energy shows that the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m wormholes cannot be used to represent the foam.