2023/11/12 by George Ellis, David Garfinkle, Ellis, George F R +1 · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Biofield Effects and Biophysics #Classical mechanics #Cosmology #Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #General relativity #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Law #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #Slogan #Special relativity #Theoretical physics #Theory of relativity #Wormhole
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2311.06881
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)
openalex publication_date 2023/11/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Unphysical equations of state result from the unrestricted use of the Synge G-trick of running the Einstein field equations backwards; in particular often this results in ρ+ p < 0 which implies negative inertial mass density, which does not occur in reality. This is the basis of some unphysical spacetime models including phantom energy in cosmology and traversable wormholes. The slogan ``ER = EPR'' appears to have no basis in physics and is merely the result of vague and unbridled speculation. Wormholes (the ``ER'' of the slogan) are a mathematical curiosity of general relativity that have little to no application to a description of our universe. In contrast quantum correlations (the ``EPR'' of the slogan) are a fundamental property of quantum mechanics that follows from the principle of superposition and is true regardless of the properties of gravity. The speculative line of thought that led to ``ER = EPR'' is part of a current vogue for anti-geometrical thinking that runs counter to (and threatens to erase) the great geometrical insights of the global structure program of general relativity.