Can a wormhole supported by only small amounts of exotic matter really be traversable?

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether wormholes supported by minimal exotic matter can be made traversable, addressing issues of flare-out rate and horizon proximity, and presents a model that overcomes these challenges while maintaining small exotic matter quantities.

Contribution

It introduces a new wormhole model that remains traversable with arbitrarily small exotic matter, overcoming previous limitations related to flare-out and horizon proximity.

Findings

The model supports traversability with minimal exotic matter.

It confirms exotic matter can be arbitrarily small.

The model satisfies all traversability conditions.

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that (a) quantum effects may be sufficient to support a wormhole throat and (b) the total amount of "exotic matter" can be made arbitrarily small. Unfortunately, using only small amounts of exotic matter may result in a wormhole that flares out too slowly to be traversable in a reasonable length of time. Combined with the Ford-Roman constraints, the wormhole may also come close to having an event horizon at the throat. This paper examines a model that overcomes these difficulties, while satisfying the usual traversability conditions. This model also confirms that the total amount of exotic matter can indeed be made arbitrarily small.