A semiclassical singularity theorem

Abstract

Quantum fields do not satisfy the pointwise energy conditions that are assumed in the original singularity theorems of Penrose and Hawking. Accordingly, semiclassical quantum gravity lies outside their scope. Although a number of singularity theorems have been derived under weakened energy conditions, none is directly derived from quantum field theory. Here, we employ a quantum energy inequality satisfied by the quantized minimally coupled linear scalar field to derive a singularity theorem valid in semiclassical gravity. By considering a toy cosmological model, we show that our result predicts timelike geodesic incompleteness on plausible timescales with reasonable conditions at a spacelike Cauchy surface.

arXiv comment28 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• The Return of the Singularities: Applications of the Smeared Null Energy Condition
• Big Bang Singularity Resolution In Quantum Cosmology
• Semiclassical gravity with a conformally covariant field in globally hyperbolic spacetimes
• Hawking-type singularity theorems for worldvolume energy inequalities
• Quantum Energy Inequalities along stationary worldlines