The Role of Pressure as a Source of Gravity and Wormholes

Abstract

The role of pressure as a source of gravity in general relativity is considered. In homogeneous, anisotropic cosmological models, the anisotropic pressure components along different coordinate axes are included as terms in the equations determining the accelerations along these axes; in this sense, this situation is similar to how the mass density is included in these equations. A change in the pressure component along one of the coordinates leads to an anisotropic change in the accelerations along all three coordinates. However, the pressure components are not present in the equation determining the initial conditions. On the other hand, with an inhomogeneous matter density distribution, the mass density and pressure play fundamentally different roles as sources of gravity. The consequences of this are considered.