Microscopic Wormholes That Work, Theoretically
Wormholes are amazing. But at the same time, they are quite problematic and completely theoretical. Now scientists mixed up relativity, electrodynamics, and quantum theory to create a model that allows for the existence of microscopic wormholes.
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Wormholes are always a nice prop in science fiction. The fact that they allow our sci-fi heroes to travel quickly over immense distances is just fascinating. But when it comes to the real world wormholes have a much harder time. While the equations of Einstein’s relativity allow for their existence they are still completely hypothetical.
Nonetheless, physicists are working on it. An international team led by Jose Luis Blázquez-Salcedo from Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg created a new theoretical model that makes microscopic wormholes much more real than previously.
Wormholes are made from extremely warped spacetime which then creates a tunnel between two places that otherwise would be extremely far apart. The normal way to warp spacetime is through the effects of gravity. But at least theoretically it could be warped without the need for a massive object that provides gravity. It is possible in math. But we haven’t seen it happen in real life.
The problem lies in the fact that from what we know about wormholes from math they aren’t exactly stable objects. If something with mass, let’s say a spaceship, entered a wormhole it could very well collapse into a black hole. Most of our current models suggest you require exotic matter that has negative mass to keep them stable. But that itself is also completely theoretical.
But now Blázquez-Salcedo and his coworkers claim that wormholes might be passable even without this exotic substance. To create their model they used a relatively simple semi-classical approach. They mixed parts of classical relativity with bits of quantum theory and electrodynamics theory. Their model allows for certain elementary particles to pass through the wormholes. Particles such as electrons with their charge. They incorporated the Dirac equation – an equation that describes the behavior of particles with a 1/2 spin such as an electron – and thus the Dirac field.
The introduction of the Dirac field allowed for the existence of wormholes that are passable for particles such as an electron. At the same time, they are passable for certain signals such as electromagnetic waves. While these wormholes will not allow us to travel through Star Gates they could potentially allow for FTL communications. If they are real.
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