Quantum dress for a naked singularity

Abstract

We investigate semiclassical backreaction on a conical naked singularity space–time with a negative cosmological constant in (2+1)-dimensions. In particular, we calculate the renormalized quantum stress–energy tensor for a conformally coupled scalar field on such naked singularity space–time. We then obtain the backreacted metric via the semiclassical Einstein equations. We show that, in the regime where the semiclassical approximation can be trusted, backreaction dresses the naked singularity with an event horizon, thus enforcing (weak) cosmic censorship.

Keywords

• Semiclassical gravity
• Quantum backreaction
• Cosmic censorship
• Black holes
• Naked singularities
• BTZ