We study self-gravitating, static, spherically symmetric phantom scalar fields with arbitrary potentials (favored by cosmological observations) and single out 16 classes of possible regular configurations with flat, de Sitter, and anti–de Sitter asymptotics. Among them are traversable wormholes, bouncing Kantowski-Sachs (KS) cosmologies, and asymptotically flat black holes (BHs). A regular BH has a Schwarzschild-like causal structure, but the singularity is replaced by a de Sitter infinity, giving a hypothetic BH explorer a chance to survive. It also looks possible that our Universe has originated in a phantom-dominated collapse in another universe, with KS expansion and isotropization after crossing the horizon. Explicit examples of regular solutions are built and discussed. Possible generalizations include $k$-essence type scalar fields (with a potential) and scalar-tensor gravity.

• Received 24 November 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.251101