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Scale anomalies imply violation of the averaged null energy condition

Matt Visser
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Abstract

Considerable interest has recently been expressed regarding the issue of whether or not quantum field theory on a fixed but curved background spacetime satisfies the averaged null energy condition (ANEC). A comment by Wald and Yurtsever [Phys. Rev. D43, 403 (1991)] indicates that in general the answer is no. In this note I explore this issue in more detail, and succeed in characterizing a broad class of spacetimes in which the ANEC is guaranteed to be violated. Finally, I add some comments regarding ANEC violation in Schwarzschild spacetime.

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Matt Visser. 1994-09-20. Scale anomalies imply violation of the averaged null energy condition. https://doi.org/10.1016/0370-2693(95)00303-3

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