WFU Department of Physics Wake Forest University

 

Wake Forest Physics
Nationally recognized for teaching excellence;
internationally respected for research advances;
a focused emphasis on interdisciplinary study and close student-faculty collaboration.

WFU Physics Colloquium

ΣΠ&Sigma (Physics Honors Society) Ceremony

Introduction of new physics majors

Special recognition of graduating students

Presentation of student awards

Honors Thesis Presentation

TIME: Thurs. May 1, 2008 at 4:00 PM

PLACE: George P. Williams, Jr. Lecture Hall, (Olin 101)


Refreshments will be served at 3:30 PM in the lounge. All interested persons are cordially invited to attend.


Honors Thesis Presentation

Sarah Kylap

Numerical Computation of the Stress-Energy Tensor in the Neighborhood of a Wormhole due to Fermionic Fields

One interesting potential solution to the semiclassical gravity equation is a wormhole. The calculation of the stress-energy tensor for a wormhole is significant and relevant to the study of wormholes because it gives important information about the structure and energy density of spacetime. In this research, we automated the calculation of the stress-energy tensor for a static, spherically symmetric wormhole due to vacuum fluctuations of massless quantum Dirac fields with spin-1/2. We calculated the stress-energy tensor for three different possible wormhole metrics. Given the stress-energy for a particular metric, Einstein's field equation can be used to obtain the Einstein tensor and thus, the backreaction on the metric. Ultimately, we would like to find a self-consistent wormhole solution, where the stress-energy tensor from the wormhole is precisely that needed to create the wormhole. Thus far, no such solution has been found and the main barrier to finding such a solution has been the enormous amount of time needed to calculate the stress-energy from a particular solution. Automating this process, as we have done, will aid in the search for a self-consistent wormhole solution.


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100 Olin Physical Laboratory
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC 27109-7507
Phone: (336) 758-5337, FAX: (336) 758-6142
E-mail:
wfuphys@wfu.edu