Wormholes, a mystical concept often mentioned along with black holes, are often found in the wonders of science fiction and occupy a place in the physics equation. What exactly does it exist? If it exists, what kind of universe could it carry
In simple terms, black holes are the ultimate trap of time and space, and when any substance crashes, there is no escape; and wormholes are seen as a time and space “cut-off” that theoretically connects two remote regions of the universe, even across different universes, and when black holes are compared to deep vortexes, wormholes are like tunnels through time and space。
Wormholes are not fabricated by science fictionaries and their theoretical roots can be traced back to einstein's broad relativity. In 1935, einstein and his colleague rosen, in their quest for a broad relativity equation, discovered the theoretical existence of a special structure connecting two space-time zones, later known as the einstein-rosen bridge。
Since then, physicist wheeler has given this structure a more popular name, the wormhole, which gives this abstract concept of physics a more visible pictogram, as if there were countless unknown doors hidden in the universe, through one door, that could reach another distinct time and space end。
Referring to the visualization of wormholes, the film interstellar crossing is undoubtedly a classic case that cannot be bypassed. This film brings the wormhole theory to the screen in the form of a very visual shock: through the wormholes in saturn's orbit, the owner, cooper and the team travel to distant galaxies to find a new home for humanity。
It is worth noting that the scientific consultant for the film is the nobel prize-winning nobel prize in physics, kip thorne, who himself designed the visual model of the wormhole, which is a shining space-time tunnel, not a pure artistic creation, but a true calculation based on a broad relativity equation. It is this film that allows countless people to visualize, for the first time, the possible form of wormholes, and to bring this theoretical concept into the public eye。
But the wormholes in reality are much more complex than what the movies say. At the mathematical level, the presence of the wormhole is reasonable, but it has a fatal flaw and is extremely unstable。
Even if a light passes through a wormhole, the resulting energy disturbance may cause its instant collapse. In order for the wormhole to remain stable and accessible, it is theoretically supported by a “negative energy material” that offsets gravity, which produces a “exclusive force” contrary to conventional gravity, thus balancing the collapse of the wormhole。
To date, however, no trace of negative energy substances has been found in humans in experiments. The assumption that the dark energy that is widely present in the universe may be an image of negative energy matter, but the essence of the dark energy remains an open mystery in the astronomy world, has not yet been validated。
Although not yet confirmed by observations, theoretically, the presence of wormholes would have two core functions。
First, as a shortcut to space. In a vast universe, the distances of two galaxies are calculated at millions of light-years, and it takes millions of years to arrive, even at the speed of light; and through wormholes, it may take just one moment to cross and completely subvert traditional space logic。
Second, as a shortcut to time. In relativity, time and space are inseparable and constitute a unified “space and time” whole. If one end of the wormhole is in a strong gravitational field or is in high-speed motion, there will be a significant difference in time flow speed between the end of the wormhole。
On the basis of this doctrine, theoretically, if someone crosses a wormhole and returns back to their place of departure, their own time will be much slower than on earth, and there may be a strange phenomenon of “traverse back and their peers are old”. This seemingly incontrovertible scenario is well established within the mathematical framework of relativity。
From a scientific perspective, the exploration of wormholes still faces three core challenges。
The first is the issue of stability, which, as noted earlier, has no viable theoretical formula for maintaining a stable presence of wormholes, which are vulnerable to collapse due to small disturbances。
The second is the risk of a temporal paradox, which, when wormholes can be used as a passage of time, can lead to a situation of “return to the past and change the history”, which triggers a logical contradiction such as the “grandfather paradox”, which poses a serious challenge to existing physical laws and causality。
Finally, there is a lack of observational evidence, and although astronomers assume that the wormhole may have a unique gravitational lens effect, i. E., a special bending phenomenon occurs when light passes, current observational techniques are not sufficiently precise to distinguish such effects from the gravitational lens effects of objects such as black holes, neutron stars and so forth to provide conclusive evidence of the presence of worm holes。
It is worth mentioning that in the frontier of modern theoretical physics, string theory and quantum gravity theory offer a bold assumption that there may be small “quantitative worm holes” between two particles in which quantum is tangled。
This assumption links macro-time and space structures to micro-quantitative phenomena, suggesting that quantum entanglement may be a manifestation of wormholes in the micro-world. However, this assumption is still at the stage of theoretical exploration and has not yet been tested。
Today, black holes have proved to be real objects, and astronomers have succeeded in taking images of black holes in the heart of the m87 galaxy and in the center of the milky way, in which humans can see the shape of black holes, which are still only theoretically derived and imagined。
But this does not prevent humankind from exploring and thinking about it, not only because it is an important subject of research in the field of physics, but also because of its curiosity about the limits of the universe, its desire for uncharted boundaries and its ultimate imagination over time and in exploring the stars and oceans。
