The hypothetical bridges connecting distant regions of space (and time) may look more or less like a garden variety. black holesThis means that legendary physics monsters may have already been seen.
Fortunately, if a new model proposed by a small team of physicists from the University of Sofia in Bulgaria is correct, there may still be a way to separate them.
Play with Einstein’s general theory of relativity It is possible to show that for a long enough time, the space-time background of the Universe can form not only deep gravitational pits from which nothing escapes, but also impossible mountain peaks that are impossible to climb.
Unlike their dark cousins, these glowing peaks shun everything approaching, spewing streams of particles and radiation that potentially have no hope of ever returning.
Leaving aside the obvious possibility Big Bang looks the same One of thesewhite holes‘, nothing like observed. Still, they remain an interesting concept to explore the limits of one of the greatest theories in physics.
in the 1930sA colleague of Einstein’s named Nathan Rosen showed that there is nothing to be said for the deep curvature of a space-time. black holes could not connect to the steep peaks of a white hole to form a kind of bridge.
In this corner of physics, our daily expectations of distance and time go out the window, meaning such a theoretical connection could cross vast expanses of the cosmos.
Under the right conditions, it may even be possible for matter to board this cosmic tube and exit the other end with its information more or less intact.
The University of Sofia team developed a simplified model of a wormhole’s ‘throat’ as a ring of magnetized liquid, and made several assumptions about what matter would look like, to determine what this black hole with its butt might look like to observatories like the Event Horizon Telescope. Circle before swallowing.
Particles caught in this furious vortex will produce powerful electromagnetic fields that tumble and refract in predictable patterns and polarize any light emitted from the heated material with a clear signature. It was the tracking of polarized radio waves that gave us the first stunning images of the world. M87* in 2019 and Bow A* earlier this year.
It would seem that it would be difficult to distinguish the steaming hot lips of a typical wormhole from the polarized light emitted by the swirling disk of chaos surrounding a black hole.
By that logic, M87* could be a wormhole. In fact, wormholes may be lurking at the end of black holes everywhere, and there’s no easy way to know.
This does not mean that there is no way of knowing.
If we catch it by chance and put together an image of a candidate wormhole as seen indirectly through a suitable gravitational lens, the subtle features that distinguish wormholes from black holes may emerge.
This, of course, would require a suitably placed mass between us and the wormhole to warp its light enough to magnify the small differences, but it would at least give us a means to confidently detect which bits of dark space have a back exit.
There is another way that requires a good dose of fortune. If we detected a wormhole at the perfect angle, it would further strengthen the light signature moving toward us from its intermittent entrance, giving us a clearer indication of the stars and a portal beyond.
Further modeling can reveal other properties of light waves that help eliminate wormholes in the night sky without the need for lenses or perfect angles; this is a possibility that researchers are now turning their attention to.
Putting more restrictions On the physics of wormholes, it may reveal new avenues not just to explore. general relativitybut physics, which describes the behavior of waves and particles.
Beyond that, lessons learned from predictions these could reveal where general relativity breaks down, poking a few holes in itself to make bold new discoveries that will allow us to see the cosmos in a completely new way.
This research has been published Physical Examination D.
