Wormholes in Vegh--dRGT massive gravity: a null-energy transparency theorem, horizon obstruction, and exact isotropic solutions
Abstract
We study static, spherically symmetric wormholes in deRham--Gabadadze--Tolley massive gravity with the spatially degenerate Vegh reference metric. The effective fluid carried by the massive graviton contributes nothing to the combination of density and radial pressure that the flare-out condition constrains, so it is invisible to the null energy condition along radial light rays. This holds for the whole degenerate class of reference metrics, for all four interaction potentials, and for any static spherically symmetric geometry; the same property singles out the Vegh choice as the only consistent one. The matter alone must therefore violate the null energy condition at every throat, exactly as in general relativity. This corrects a claim repeated across the massive-gravity wormhole literature. We then determine where throats may sit. Wormholes with isotropic pressure fall into two families. One lies beyond the cosmological horizon of the theory's own vacuum and has no static exterior; it is empty in general relativity and is switched on by the graviton coupling. The other lies inside that horizon and needs a steeply falling redshift. We give exact perfect-fluid solutions for both. In the second family the graviton term can turn the tension at the throat into ordinary pressure. A thin shell closes the configuration, and its surface stresses and its exotic-matter content follow in closed form. The shells are radially unstable, and light rays near the throat trace an unstable circular orbit.
Related
- From massless wormholes to massive black bounces: Shadows and multiple light rings
- Algebraic solutions for propagation of elastic SH-waves through an isotropic inhomogeneous geometry
- Dynamical Stability and Quasinormal Modes of Casimir Wormholes in dRGT Massive Gravity
- Robustness of exact SU(N) Einstein-Skyrme solutions: black holes, wormholes and cosmologies
- Analytical solutions for timelike orbits around Damour-Solodukhin wormholes
BibTeX
@misc{hansraj2026wormholes,
title = {{Wormholes in Vegh--dRGT massive gravity: a null-energy transparency theorem, horizon obstruction, and exact isotropic solutions}},
author = {Sudan Hansraj and Ayan Banerjee},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.29179},
eprint = {2610.29179},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29179},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Wormholes in Vegh--dRGT massive gravity: a null-energy transparency theorem, horizon obstruction, and exact isotropic solutions
AU - Sudan Hansraj
AU - Ayan Banerjee
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.29179
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29179
AB - We study static, spherically symmetric wormholes in deRham--Gabadadze--Tolley massive gravity with the spatially degenerate Vegh reference metric. The effective fluid carried by the massive graviton contributes nothing to the combination of density and radial pressure that the flare-out condition constrains, so it is invisible to the null energy condition along radial light rays. This holds for the whole degenerate class of reference metrics, for all four interaction potentials, and for any static spherically symmetric geometry; the same property singles out the Vegh choice as the only consistent one. The matter alone must therefore violate the null energy condition at every throat, exactly as in general relativity. This corrects a claim repeated across the massive-gravity wormhole literature. We then determine where throats may sit. Wormholes with isotropic pressure fall into two families. One lies beyond the cosmological horizon of the theory's own vacuum and has no static exterior; it is empty in general relativity and is switched on by the graviton coupling. The other lies inside that horizon and needs a steeply falling redshift. We give exact perfect-fluid solutions for both. In the second family the graviton term can turn the tension at the throat into ordinary pressure. A thin shell closes the configuration, and its surface stresses and its exotic-matter content follow in closed form. The shells are radially unstable, and light rays near the throat trace an unstable circular orbit.
ER -