Abstract

It is well known that the local kinetic energy density can be negative in quantum field theory. This is a “quantum effect” that is in contrast to classical physics where the kinetic energy density is always non-negative. It has been proposed in the literature that there exist “quantum inequalities” which place limits on this negative energy density. In this paper we will examine a type of quantum inequality call the spatial quantum inequality. The spatial quantum inequality is a lower bound on the weighted average of the kinetic energy density. It will be shown that for a massless scalar field in 1-1 dimensional space-time we can formulate a quantum state which violates the quantum inequality. In addition, we will look into the quantum interest conjecture. The quantum interest conjecture states that a negative energy pulse must always be closely associated with a positive energy pulse of greater magnitude. It will be shown that the quantum interest conjecture is violated.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.