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Weak Energy Condition Violation and Superluminal Travel

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Current Trends in Relativistic Astrophysics

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Physics ((LNP,volume 617))

Abstract

Recent solutions to the Einstein Field Equations involving negative energy densities, i.e., matter violating the weak-energy-condition, have been obtained, namely traversable wormholes, the Alcubierre warp drive and the Krasnikov tube. These solutions are related to superluminal travel, although locally the speed of light is not surpassed. It is difficult to define faster-than-light travel in generic space-times, and one can construct metrics which apparently allow superluminal travel, but are in fact flat Minkowski space-times. Therefore, to avoid these dificulties it is important to provide an appropriate definition of superluminal travel.

We investigate these problems and the relationship between weak-energy-condition violation and superluminal travel.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Astronomia e Astrofísica da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Ed. C8, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal

    Francisco Lobo & Paulo Crawford

Authors
  1. Francisco Lobo
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  2. Paulo Crawford
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. E.T.S.I.Navales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Arco de la Victoria s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Leonardo Fernández-Jambrina

  2. Fac. Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Compluense de Madrid, Avenida Complutense s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Luis Manuel González-Romero

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Lobo, F., Crawford, P. (2003). Weak Energy Condition Violation and Superluminal Travel. In: Fernández-Jambrina, L., González-Romero, L.M. (eds) Current Trends in Relativistic Astrophysics. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 617. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36973-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36973-2_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-01983-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-36973-8

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