Abstract
There has been much recent work on quantum inequalities to constrain negative energy. These are uncertainty-principle-type restrictions on the magnitude and duration of negative energy densities or fluxes. We consider several examples of apparent failures of the quantum inequalities, which involve passage of an observer through regions where the negative energy density becomes singular. We argue that this type of situation requires one to formulate quantum inequalities using sampling functions with compact support. We discuss such inequalities, and argue that they remain valid even in the presence of singular energy densities.
- Received 12 November 1997
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.57.4839
©1998 American Physical Society