Are Wormholes the Key to Unlocking the Universe's Secrets?

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    Mystery Wormholes
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the existence and implications of wormholes in the universe. Participants explore theoretical aspects, potential connections between universes, and the feasibility of creating wormholes, touching on concepts from general relativity and quantum gravity.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants question whether wormholes actually exist and if they could serve as shortcuts in the universe.
  • One participant references Sergei Krasnikov's calculations related to wormholes and quantum gravity, suggesting that closed universes could branch off from flat regions of spacetime.
  • Another participant proposes a theoretical model where a rip in a U-shaped universe could create a wormhole, although they express skepticism about its likelihood.
  • Concerns are raised about the viability of wormholes allowing matter to pass through, noting that real objects with mass could collapse a wormhole.
  • Some participants speculate on the possibility of wormholes connecting different universes, while expressing uncertainty about this idea.
  • There is mention of the need for "exotic" matter to stabilize a wormhole, with varying opinions on the amount required and its theoretical existence.
  • References are made to foundational papers by Morris and Thorne that have influenced the discussion on wormholes and their potential applications.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that there is no observational evidence for wormholes, but multiple competing views remain regarding their theoretical existence, implications, and the feasibility of creating them. The discussion remains unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the lack of consensus on the properties and requirements of exotic matter, as well as the unresolved nature of the mathematical models related to wormholes.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in theoretical physics, general relativity, quantum gravity, and cosmology may find this discussion relevant.

2rashmi1993
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wormholes...a mystery or not!

do wormholes actually exists?
if yes, then, is it true that they act as shortcuts for some other destinations in the universe?
and lastly can man himself create them!?.....all a mystery 4 me!
 
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There is no physical evidence, it's just a theory, but one that can exist. I believe it was Sergei Krasnikov who has done some calculations based on Einsteins "Theory of Relativity" to kind of prove they exist.

These are worth a read, although WIKI is not certified.

Any reasonable theory of quantum gravity will allow closed universes to branch off from our nearly flat region of spacetime. I describe the possible quantum states of these closed universes. They correspond to wormholes which connect two asymptotically Euclidean regions, or two parts of the same asymptotically Euclidean region. I calculate the influence of these wormholes on ordinary quantum fields at low energies in the asymptotic region. This can be represented by adding effective interactions in flat spacetime which create or annihilate closed universes containing certain numbers of particles. The effective interactions are small except for closed universes containing scalar particles in the spatially homogeneous mode. If these scalar interactions are not reduced by sypersymmetry, it may be that any scalar particles we observe would have to be bound states of particles of higher spin, such as the pion. An observer in the asymptotically flat region would not be able to measure the quantum state of closed universes that branched off. He would therefore have to sum over all possibilities for the closed universes. This would mean that the final state would appear to be a mixed quantum state, rather than a pure quantum state.

http://prd.aps.org/abstract/PRD/v37/i4/p904_1"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole"
 
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everything is just a theory!
an idea is that if the universe was shaped like a U tipped 90 degrees horizontally, then a little rip on one side could attach it self onto the over and create a wormhole, but thiss is highly unilikely, depending on a lot of things. This is only a theory, but not one i perticularly like :)
 


2rashmi1993 said:
do wormholes actually exists?
if yes, then, is it true that they act as shortcuts for some other destinations in the universe?
and lastly can man himself create them!?.....all a mystery 4 me!
From what I understand, nobody has yet produced a viable model for a wormhole that can actually allow matter to pass through it. The problem is that the wormhole works as long as you use only "test particles" that have no mass and do not disturb the gravitational potential. But once you actually start using real objects with mass, even a very small mass, that small mass is big enough to collapse the worm hole.
 


Do you think it's possible that wormholes connect universes? I always thought that maybe that's what they did. But I dunno.
 


2rashmi1993 said:
do wormholes actually exists?

As others have said, there is no observational evidence for the existence of wormholes.
2rashmi1993 said:
if yes, then, is it true that they act as shortcuts for some other destinations in the universe?
Pcrouse said:
Do you think it's possible that wormholes connect universes? I always thought that maybe that's what they did. But I dunno.

If they exist, thiese are theoretical possibilities.
2rashmi1993 said:
and lastly can man himself create them!?.....all a mystery 4 me!

This is not a practical possibility, but the theoretical possibility of this is an area of active research. A stable wormhole requires "exotic" matter to hold it open, and exotic matter is such that some observers measure its density to be negative. There are some hints from quantum theory that exotic matter is theoretically possible, but not everyone agrees on how much is needed to hold a wormhole open, how much is possible, etc.

The papers that stimulated much interest and many papers are M. S. Morris and K. S. Thorne, “Wormholes in spacetime and their use for interstellar travel: A tool for teaching General Relativity”, Am. J. Phys. 56, 395 (1988), and M. S. Morris, K. S. Thorne, and U. Yurtsever, "Wormholes, Time Machines, and the Weak Energy Condition". Physical Review Letters 61, 1446–1449 (1988).
 


thanxall ...
shall definitely go through all the links n books suggested by u all.
astronomy is like a black hole of interest! don't u all agree.:-)
 

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