A wormhole is a theoretical passage through space - time that
could create shortcuts for long journeys across the universe.
Wormholes are predicted by the theory of general relativity.
But be wary: wormholes bring with them the dangers of sudden
collapse, high radiation and dangerous contact with exotic matter.
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Stephen Hsu, a professor of theoretical physics at the University
of Oregon. "No one thinks we're going to find a wormhole
anytime soon."
Wormholes contain two mouths, with a throat connecting the two.
The mouths would most likely be spheroidal. The throat might
be a straight stretch, but it could also wind around, taking a
longer path than a more conventional route might require.
Certain solutions of general relativity allow for the existence
of wormholes where the mouth of each is a black hole. However,
a naturally occurring black hole, formed by the collapse of a
dying star, does not by itself create a wormhole.
Science fiction is filled with tales of traveling through wormholes.
But the reality of such travel is more complicated, and not just
because we've yet to spot one. The first problem is size. Primordial
wormholes are predicted to exist on microscopic levels, about 10–33
centimeters. However, as the universe expands, it is possible that
some may have been stretched to larger sizes.
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exotic type of matter in order to stabilize a wormhole," said Hsu,
"and it's not clear whether such matter exists in the universe."
But more recent research found that a wormhole containing "exotic"
matter could stay open and unchanging for longer periods of time.
Exotic matter, which should not be confused with dark matter or
antimatter, contains negative energy density and a large negative
pressure. Such matter has only been seen in the behavior of certain
vacuum states as part of quantum field theory. If a wormhole
contained sufficient exotic matter, whether naturally occurring
or artificially added, it could theoretically be used as a method
of sending information or travelers through space. Unfortunately,
human journeys through the space tunnels may be challenging. "The
jury is not in, so we just don't know," physicist Kip Thorne, one
of the world's leading authorities on relativity, black holes and
wormholes, told Space.com. "But there are very strong indications
that wormholes that a human could travel through are forbidden by
the laws of physics. That's sad, that's unfortunate, but that's
the direction in which things are pointing."
Wormholes may not only connect two separate regions within the
universe, they could also connect two different universes. Similarly,
some scientists have conjectured that if one mouth of a wormhole
is moved in a specific manner, it could allow for time travel.
"You can go into the future or into the past using traversable
wormholes," astrophysicist Eric Davis told LiveScience. But it
won't be easy: "It would take a Herculean effort to turn a wormhole
into a time machine. It's going to be tough enough to pull off
a wormhole."
"A wormhole is not really a means of going back in time, it's a
short cut, so that something that was far away is much closer,"
NASA's Eric Christian wrote. Although adding exotic matter to a
wormhole might stabilize it to the point that human passengers
could travel safely through it, there is still the possibility
that the addition of "regular" matter would be sufficient to
destabilize the portal. Today's technology is insufficient to
enlarge or stabilize wormholes, even if they could be found.
However, scientists continue to explore the concept as a method
of space travel with the hope that technology will eventually
be able to utilize them. "You would need some of super - super
- advanced technology," Hsu said. "Humans won't be doing this
any time in the near future." However, British cosmologist
Stephen Hawking has argued that such use is not possible.
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