Traversable $\ell$-wormholes supported by ghost scalar fields

Abstract

We present new, asymptotically flat, static, spherically symmetric and traversable wormhole solutions in General Relativity which are supported by a family of ghost scalar fields with quartic potential. This family consists of a particular composition of the scalar field modes, in which each mode is characterized by the same value of the angular momentum number $\ell$, yet the composition yields a spherically symmetric stress-energy-momentum and metric tensor. For $\ell = 0$ our solutions reduce to wormhole configurations which had been reported previously in the literature. We discuss the effects of the new parameter $\ell$ on the wormhole geometry including the motion of free-falling test particles.