Negative Energy in General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory

Central Connecticut State University, New Britain CT

Investigators

Abstract

The research discussed here deals with the implications of a very unusual form of energy. The existence of this so-called "negative energy" is allowed by the laws of quantum field theory, which describe the behavior of matter and energy on microscopic scales. The focus of the research is the extended investigation of restrictions imposed by the laws of physics on negative energy. These generalized restrictions would involve the placement of constraints on the distribution of negative energy in both time and space. Regions of negative energy also appear to be accompanied by large fluctuations in energy density, which could perhaps lead to large fluctuations in the gravitational fields produced by the negative energy. How this would affect the description of gravity, given in Einstein's theory as the curvature of the geometry of space and time, in these circumstances is currently not well understood. It is hoped to investigate this issue as well. Situations involving negative energy have been produced in the laboratory. The amounts of negative energy generated in these experiments are extremely tiny. However, if the laws of physics impose no constraints on negative energy, then one might be able to create large amounts of it and thereby produce bizarre macroscopic effects. However, research has shown that quantum field theory does impose some rather strong restrictions on negative energy. These constraints have come to be known as "quantum inequalities", and yield severe limitations on the macroscopic effects of negative energy mentioned above. Loosely speaking, they say that large negative energies can exist for only short periods of time. The present research aims to extend the scope of these results.