RADIATION FROM A UNIFORMLY ACCELERATED CHARGE IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF A WORMHOLE THROAT

Abstract

Using traversable wormholes as theoretical background, we revisit a deep question of general relativity: Does a uniformly accelerated charged particle radiate? We particularize to the recently proposed gravitational Čerenkov radiation, that happens when the spatial part of the Ricci tensor is negative. If (3+1)Rii<0 the matter threading the gravitational field violates the weak energy condition. In this case, the effective refractive index for light is larger than 1, i.e. particles propagate faster than photons in that medium. This leads to a violation of the equivalence principle.