Wormholes supported by polytropic phantom energy

Abstract

It is generally agreed that the acceleration of the Universe can best be explained by the presence of dark or phantom energy. The equation of state of the latter shows that the null energy condition is violated. Such a violation is the primary ingredient for sustaining traversable wormholes. This paper discusses wormholes supported by a more general form called polytropic phantom energy. The equation of state results in significant generalizations of the phantom-energy and, in some cases, the generalized Chaplygin-gas wormhole models, both of which continue to receive considerable attention from researchers. Several specific solutions are explored, namely, a constant redshift function, a particular choice of the shape function, and an isotropic-pressure model with various shape functions. Some of the wormhole spacetimes are asymptotically flat, but most are not.