Travel to the Past: Exploring Possibilities with Time Machines and Wormholes

[JordanSC5]

Assuming (Big assumption I know) you could create a wormhole, and using either of the relativities created the time effect needed to travel in the past, is there any way where the traveler could go beyond the inception of the wormhole. So if we made the time machine today, how could I get to the Roman Empire?

Is the only way through a natural blachole/wormhole and hope I land back on Earth in the past?

 

[PeterDonis]

As far as I know, the definitive paper on using wormholes as time machines is still this one by Morris, Thorne, and Yurtsever:

http://authors.library.caltech.edu/9262/1/MORprl88.pdf

There's a lot there for a short paper, but the key point for your question is that, even if you were able to make a wormhole into a time machine, you couldn't use it to go back in time to any event to the past of when the wormhole first became a time machine. So if you made the time machine today, you couldn't use it to travel back to the Roman Empire.

(Thorne also has a layman's discussion of this in his book Black Holes and Time Warps.)

 

[JordanSC5]

From all my readings that seems to be the consensus. So my next question is that if I want to into the black hole and use it as a bridge to another white hole, will time stop for me (the travelers) once I'm past the event horizon?

Time would continue normally for me the traveler correct? The real problem is not being ripped apart.

 

[PeterDonis]

Time would continue normally for me the traveler correct?

Yes. But the relationship between your time and time in the outside universe can get pretty weird.

The real problem is not being ripped apart.

Yes, tidal gravity is still going to be there, and it will be much too large for any material we're currently familiar with to survive the trip unless the wormhole is extremely large (and the larger the wormhole, the more difficult it is to make it and hold it open in the first place).

 

[sardar]

I must approach this topic with a critical and analytical mindset. While the concept of time travel is fascinating, it is important to recognize that it is currently only a theoretical possibility and has not been proven to be achievable.

If we were to assume that a wormhole could be created and used for time travel, there would still be many challenges and limitations to consider. One major concern would be the stability and duration of the wormhole. Wormholes are highly unstable and would require an immense amount of energy to keep open for an extended period of time. Thus, it is unlikely that a wormhole could be sustained long enough to travel back to a specific point in time, such as the Roman Empire.

Additionally, even if a wormhole were to be created and sustained, there is no guarantee that it would lead to the desired destination in the past. The laws of physics and the unpredictable nature of time make it difficult to determine the exact location and time period that a wormhole would lead to.

Furthermore, the concept of traveling beyond the inception of the wormhole raises questions about the fundamental principles of time and causality. If one were to travel beyond the inception of the wormhole, they would essentially be altering the past and potentially creating paradoxes that could have unforeseen consequences.

In conclusion, while the idea of using a wormhole for time travel is intriguing, it is important to approach it with caution and skepticism. Theoretical concepts must be thoroughly researched and tested before they can be considered as a possibility. Until then, time travel remains a fascinating topic for scientific exploration and speculation.