Is it possible to travel through space and time through wormholes? It’s possible, but it’s not worth it.

Just imagine, somewhere in the Universe there might be tunnels that could significantly shorten interstellar travel. Just a short trip and you’re hundreds, maybe billions of light years away. Sounds good, but is it even possible?

Let’s talk about wormholes. You may have heard them called “mole caves”. Whatever you call it, you can’t go wrong. In short, it is a topological feature of space and time that forms a kind of tunnel. It can connect different parts of the same warped space or become a bridge between two spaces (other universes, other dimensions, and so on).

 

It is important not to forget that such a feature is only hypothetical and the existence of wormholes has not yet been proven experimentally or empirically, by observation. And here is the concept of such a feature found in the General Theory of Relativity. Mole caves were first mentioned in 1916 (when the theory of white holes was proposed), and in 1935 Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen developed this idea.

 

ANATOMY OF THE WORMHOUSE

 

Although these are hypothetical objects, their “anatomy” has been thoroughly studied by scientists. wormholes have two “mouths”. These are circular openings that would serve as entrances and exits for travelers. They are connected by a “throat”, namely, the tunnel in question that connects the two parts of space.

 

Einstein managed to prove the existence of wormholes, but only through mathematical calculations. Models show that this tunnel should be filled with exotic matter with a negative energy density. Only under these conditions can the wormhole be functional, as it would create a powerful gravitational push and prevent the wormhole from closing.

The general theory of relativity does not forbid the existence of such tunnels. It is speculated that the mouth of the wormhole could be a black hole. However, it should be an unusual black hole. Don’t assume that the collapse of every dying star will create a future wormhole.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO TRAVEL THROUGH WORMHOUSE?

 

Well, in science fiction, wormholes are used as sweetly as possible, because they can be used to quickly cover huge distances or travel to other universes or dimensions. But in reality, using wormholes is much more complicated, we don’t think.

 

First of all, size is the problem. According to the researchers, primary wormholes are microscopic and could not exceed ~30 cm. Such tunnels would be difficult to find, and a spaceship would not fit there. However, there is an assumption that the expansion of the Universe had to be stretched by the wormhole.

 

Determining the stability of a particular wormhole is difficult. Theoretically, they are divided into transitory and nontransitory. And these (such as Schwarzschild wormholes, also known as the Einstein-Rosen bridge) decay too quickly. In order for such a molehill to be stable and remain open for a long time, exotic matter will be needed.

There are also suspicions that the addition of normal material (spacecraft, people, etc.) will cause the tunnel to collapse or contract. However, scientists do not stop studying this topic, because such wormholes would be very useful as an instrument for the study of the Universe.

 

Stephen Hawking was convinced that humans would not be able to use wormholes because of their instability. However, some scientists believe that with the right knowledge, such tunnels can be controlled. Not only that, wormholes can connect not only space-time regions or two universes, but also become a kind of time machine.

 

Black hole travel is possible – but will take longer than normal travel

 

Two related pieces of news have reached us from Harvard University. Physicist Daniel Jafferis has been able to substantiate the existence of hypothetical shorter paths through the fabric of spacetime – “wormholes” – in the real Universe with new calculations. And immediately came to the conclusion that they are not suitable for travel.

 

“From the perspective of an outside observer, moving through a wormhole will be equivalent to quantum teleportation using a pair of linked black holes,” Jafferis explains. The basis of his calculations is the concept of the “Einstein-Rosen bridge”, only for the analysis he used modern instruments for calculating quantum effects. He was able to model a situation where an initially “imtransitive” wormhole became transitive. At least partially.

Jafferis’ calculations showed that, under certain conditions, information can be obtained from JS by transmitting it with light. This is not the same as traveling between a pair of bound JSs forming a wormhole, but opens up new avenues of research in quantum mechanics, gravity, and unexplored areas of physics.

 

However, one conclusion can be drawn already – the path through such a space-time formation will be both difficult and long. So hard and long that it’s even economically more beneficial not to build some kind of protective capsule to dive into a black hole, but to simply launch a convoy of starships that would fly to the destination at sub-light speed. It is very likely that they would reach their destination much faster than the spacecraft through the “mole land”.