Exploring the Possibility of Wormholes: Examining the Concept and Evidence

[abhiroop_k]

do wormholes actually exist?

 

[edgepflow]

They are (at the time of this writing) theoretical objects that exist in some solutions of the field equations of General Relativity.

There is no physical evidence they exist and there presence is not needed to explain any observations.

 

[Forestman]

You might find this article interesting.

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/02/the-search-for-stars-with-wormholes-at-their-center.html#more

 

[Nabeshin]

You might find this article interesting.

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/02/the-search-for-stars-with-wormholes-at-their-center.html#more

I find the fact that the media has actually made a big deal out of this article to be hilarious. I read the paper when it came out and thought to myself "huh, that's interesting", but really no different than any of the other work on wormholes. All of a sudden once someone puts a wormhole in a star it seems more legitimate -- it's not. You still need the wormhole in the first place!

 

[George Jones]

The theoretical possibility of the existence of wormholes is an area of active research. Stable traversable wormholes, including the ones from the link above, require "exotic" matter to hold them 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 technical paper on which the link in the above post is based is

http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.4454.

 

[abhiroop_k]

can someone pls suggest a good book on wormholes...completely dedicated to wormholes if possible..

 

[Nabeshin]

can someone pls suggest a good book on wormholes...completely dedicated to wormholes if possible..

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1563966530/?tag=pfamazon01-20

THE book on wormholes.

 

[George Jones]

can someone pls suggest a good book on wormholes...completely dedicated to wormholes if possible..

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1563966530/?tag=pfamazon01-20

THE book on wormholes.

I bought this book shortly after it was published, and I think that it is an extremely interesting book. It does, however, assume a working knowledge of general relativity throughout and some field theory for its more advanced parts. A detailed but largely non-mathematical treatment of wormholes is given by

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984150005/?tag=pfamazon01-20.

 

[Forestman]

This is another good book that talks about wormholes, as well as black holes

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...+black+holes+and+time+warps&tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[Forestman]

It is also predicted that on the quantum scale that spacetime becomes like a foam, and that wormholes are constantly being created and destroyed.

This short video clip does not talk about wormholes, but it does talk about quantum foam.

 

[edgepflow]

I would also recommend, "Black Holes, Wormholes & Time Machines" by Al-Khalili:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0750305606/?tag=pfamazon01-20

This is my favorite popular science book on wormhole time machines.

Lorentzian Wormholes by Visser is an excellent book. But as George Jones mentioned, it is heavy on GR.

Going back to the original question, there is speculation that tiny wormholes and baby universes pop in and out of existence in the "quantum foam" at distances below the Planck length. Again, there is no proof of this.

 

[sachinism]

Some stars may contain wormholes, throatlike tunnels connecting distant points in spacetime, a team of physicists proposes. But other researchers are having a hard time swallowing the idea.

“It’s a nice piece of speculative work, but it is speculation,” says theoretical physicist Matt Visser of Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.

In an article posted online at arXiv.org February 25, physicist Vladimir Folomeev of the Institute of Physicotechnical Problems and Material Science in the Kyrgyz Republic and his colleagues suggest that pairs of stars could be joined by wormholes constructed of an exotic material known as “phantom matter.” Strictly hypothetical, the stuff has been proposed as a possible explanation for the accelerating expansion of the universe. Its exotic properties could also enable phantom matter to keep a wormhole propped open.

“I am pretty sure that once you admit exotic matter of some suitable kind, you can mathematically construct a star with a wormhole inside,” comments relativity theorist Dieter Brill of the University of Maryland in College Park.

Actually seeing one is another thing entirely. It’s possible, says Folomeev, that a stellar wormhole might generate signals that telescopes could record. In general, an ordinary star and one with a wormhole at its center would look the same to a distant observer. But if the wormhole has a strong enough influence, it might alter properties such as the mass or size of the stars in a nonstandard way. And if the wormhole is short, so that the two stars it links don’t lie far apart, an observer might see another unusual signpost — two closely spaced objects with nearly identical properties.

The team performed preliminary calculations suggesting that such a configuration might be stable against relatively simple disturbances to the system, supporting the possible existence of such a beast. However, the researchers acknowledge that their analysis isn’t complete.

“They seem to have done a serious analysis of the system, but they haven't claimed to have shown stability, as would be necessary to take the model seriously,” comments theoretical physicist Robert Wald of the University of Chicago.

In their paper, Folomeev and his colleagues suggest that the matter in the wormhole would slosh around, generating astrophysical fireworks in the process. Oscillations in which different parts of the material move at different velocities could lead to collisions that might be energetic enough to produce gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.

For now, this is just an idea that still must be confirmed by further calculations, says Folomeev.

Although it’s unclear whether or not the stellar wormhole model will collapse under scrutiny, says Brill, “I am generally in favor of calculating models that a priori seem far-fetched and wild.”

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/70599/title/Stellar_wormholes_may_exist

 

[Chronos]

I just noticed the apple I was eating has a wormhole and appears to contain some form of exotic matter.