Christian Knoll from the University of Oldenburg and Eugen Radu from the Universidade de Aveiro in Portugal demonstrate in their model that wormholes could also be traversable without such matter. The researchers chose a comparatively simple "semiclassical" approach. They combined elements of relativity theory with elements of quantum theory and classic electrodynamics theory. In their model they consider certain elementary particles such as electrons and their electric charge as the matter that is to pass through the wormhole.
As a mathematical description, they chose the Dirac equation, a formula that describes the probability density function of a particle according to quantum theory and relativity as a so-called Dirac field.
As the physicists report in their study, it is the inclusion of the Dirac field into their model that permits the existence of a wormhole traversable by matter, provided that the ratio between the electric charge and the mass of the wormhole exceeds a certain limit.
In addition to matter, signals—for example electromagnetic waves—could also traverse the tiny tunnels in spacetime. The microscopic wormholes postulated by the team would probably not be suitable for interstellar travel. Moreover, the model would have to be further refined to find out whether such unusual structures could actually exist.
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March 9, Credit: CC0 Public Domain. One was black holes, which were only unequivocally detected over the past few years. Wormholes are still in the realm of the imagination. But some scientists think we will soon be able to find them, too.
Over the past few months, several new studies have suggested intriguing ways forward. For example, when matter is extremely dense, the fabric of spacetime can become so curved that not even light can escape. This is a black hole. As the theory allows the fabric of spacetime to be stretched and bent, one can imagine all sorts of possible configurations.
In , Einstein and physicist Nathan Rosen described how two sheets of spacetime can be joined together, creating a bridge between two universes. This is one kind of wormhole — and since then many others have been imagined.
For that though, they would need to be sufficiently large and kept open against the force of gravity, which tries to close them. Sounds like sci-fi? We know that negative energy exists, small amounts have already been produced in the lab.
So nature may have found a way to make wormholes. How can we ever prove that wormholes exist? In a new paper, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Society , Russian astronomers suggest they may exist at the centre of some very bright galaxies, and propose some observations to find them. Although this means the direct connection between the black holes is shorter than the wormhole connection -- and therefore the wormhole travel is not a shortcut -- the theory gives new insights into quantum mechanics.
Jafferis based his theory on a setup first devised by Einstein and Rosen in , consisting of a connection between two black holes the term wormhole was coined in Because the wormhole is traversable, Jafferis said, it was a special case in which information could be extracted from a black hole.
To date, a major stumbling block in formulating traversable wormholes has been the need for negative energy, which seemed to be inconsistent with quantum gravity. However, Jafferis has overcome this using quantum field theory tools, calculating quantum effects similar to the Casimir effect.
The presentation, "Traversable wormholes" will took place on Saturday, April Materials provided by American Physical Society.
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