Weak energy condition for a perfect fluid ($\rho \ge 0,\rho +p\ge 0$)

For a perfect fluid in general relativity in metric signature $(-,+,+,+)$, the weak energy condition is equivalent to $\rho \ge 0$ and $\rho +p\ge 0$. A normalized observer's four-velocity $W$ has Lorentz factor $\gamma =-u\cdot W\ge 1$ relative to the fluid, and $T_{ab}{W}^a{W}^b=\rho +(\rho +p)({\gamma }^2-1)$. The case $\gamma =1$ forces the first inequality and arbitrarily large $\gamma$ forces the second; conversely the same expression proves sufficiency.