Static and symmetric wormholes respecting energy conditions in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

Abstract

Properties of $n(\ge 5)$-dimensional static wormhole solutions are investigated in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity with or without a cosmological constant $Λ$. We assume that the spacetime has symmetries corresponding to the isometries of an $(n-2)$-dimensional maximally symmetric space with the sectional curvature $k=\pm 1, 0$. It is also assumed that the metric is at least $C^{2}$ and the $(n-2)$-dimensional maximally symmetric subspace is compact. Depending on the existence or absence of the general relativistic limit $α\to 0$, solutions are classified into general relativistic (GR) and non-GR branches, respectively, where $α$ is the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant. We show that a wormhole throat respecting the dominant energy condition coincides with a branch surface in the GR branch, otherwise the null energy condition is violated there. In the non-GR branch, it is shown that there is no wormhole solution for $kα\ge 0$. For the matter field with zero tangential pressure, it is also shown in the non-GR branch with $kα<0$ and $Λ\le 0$ that the dominant energy condition holds at the wormhole throat if the radius of the throat satisfies some inequality. In the vacuum case, a fine-tuning of the coupling constants is shown to be necessary and the radius of a wormhole throat is fixed. Explicit wormhole solutions respecting the energy conditions in the whole spacetime are obtained in the vacuum and dust cases with $k=-1$ and $α>0$.

10 pages, 2 tables; v2, typos corrected, references added; v3, interpretation of the solution for n=5 in section IV corrected; v4, a very final version to appear in Physical Review D