Is quantum spacetime foam unstable?

1992/10/28 by Ian H. Redmount, Wai-Mo Suen · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #gr-qc

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.47.r2163

published as Phys.Rev.D47:2163-2167,1993 · 15 pages

arxiv created 1992/10/28 · openalex publication_date 1993/03/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

A very simple wormhole geometry is considered as a model of a mode of topological fluctuation in Planck-scale spacetime foam. The quantum dynamics of the hole reduces to quantum mechanics of one variable, the throat radius, and admits a WKB analysis. The hole is quantum-mechanically unstable: It has no bound states. Wormhole wave functions must eventually leak to large radii. This suggests that stability considerations along these lines may place strong constraints on the nature and even the existence of spacetime foam.

Citations

• Wormholes, Time Machines, and the Weak Energy Condition
• Physical effects in wormholes and time machines
• Techniques and Applications of Path Integration
• Dynamics of false-vacuum bubbles
• On the nature of quantum geometrodynamics
• Traversable wormholes: Some simple examples

Cited by

• Quantum dynamics of Lorentzian spacetime foam