What is a wormhole? Explanation of wormhole in simple language

Consider two cities on opposite sides of a mountain. The people of these cities probably have to go around the mountain to reach another city; But if they want to reach their destination in a shorter time, they can dig a tunnel inside the mountain that acts as a shortcut. Wormhole works in the same way.
But what is a space wormhole? A wormhole is actually a tunnel between two distant points in the world that shortens the time to get from one point to another; So instead of traveling from one galaxy to another galaxy taking millions of years, under the right conditions this journey can be reduced to a few hours or even a few minutes.
Since wormholes are shortcuts in space-time, they can act like time machines. In fact, by entering from one side of the wormhole, you can reach the other side in a much shorter time. Although scientists have no evidence of the existence of wormholes. These theoretical objects can help physicists better understand space-time as well as answer long-standing questions about the universe.
What is a wormhole?
Wormholes have always been a hot topic for science fiction stories and movies.
A wormhole is actually a special solution for equations that They describe Einstein’s theory of general relativity. A wormhole acts like a tunnel to connect two distant points in space-time. In ideal conditions, the length of the tunnel is shorter than the normal distance between two points. Although wormholes are often seen in science fiction stories and movies, they are still hypothetical in the real world.
Who discovered the wormhole?
Hypothetical white holes do indeed contain a singularity, but they do exactly the opposite of a black hole: nothing can enter the event horizon of a white hole, and any matter that enters the white hole is immediately ejected. Einstein and Rosen discovered that, theoretically, every black hole is paired with a white hole. Since there are two holes in two different regions of space, a tunnel called a wormhole connects them to each other.
To pass through a wormhole, the wormhole must be stable
Is it possible to pass through the wormhole?
A wormhole made of a pair of black holes and white holes would not be very useful. Because white holes are usually unstable. If you shoot a particle towards the event horizon of a white hole, it will never reach the event horizon because nothing can enter the white hole; Therefore, the energy of the system increases to infinity and eventually causes the white hole to explode.
Secondly, even if white holes existed, the only way to enter them was to cross the event horizon of the black hole on the other side of the wormhole; But once something crosses the event horizon of a black hole, it will never be able to leave it; So objects can enter the wormhole but cannot escape.
On the other hand, wormholes themselves are unstable. A photon or particle of light passing through a wormhole tunnel can generate enough energy to cause the tunnel to collapse. In the 1970s, physicists provided the mathematical calculations necessary to make a wormhole stable. For this, the entrance of the wormhole must be on the other side of the event horizon of the black hole, and the passing material must not lead to the collapse of the tunnel.
The primary and key material for the stabilization of wormholes is strange matter or a type of matter with negative mass. Unfortunately, scientists have never been able to find evidence of negative mass, and this violates the law of conservation of torque, which states that a torque must remain constant when no force is applied. Matter with negative mass next to matter with positive mass can accelerate immediately without an energy source.
What does a wormhole look like?
If there was a wormhole, it would look very strange. The wormhole entrance resembles a sphere just like the surface of a planet. If you look inside the wormhole, you will see that the light enters from the other side of the wormhole. A wormhole tunnel can be of any length, and while traveling through the tunnel you may be faced with distorted views of the region of the world you are coming from and your destination.
Wormholes occur at microscopic scales in a quantum bubble
Where are the wormholes located?
Although researchers have never discovered a wormhole in the real world, they can often be seen in solutions to important physical equations. In fact, wormholes are one of the solutions to the equations of Einstein’s theories about space-time and general relativity. This theory describes the shape of the universe and how the stars, planets and other objects in the universe move. Since Einstein’s theory has been repeatedly tested and proven to be the correct solution, some scientists expect wormholes to exist somewhere in the universe. But some other scientists think wormholes cannot exist because they are so unstable.
How is a wormhole created?
Currently, there are no real wormholes in the universe, and wormholes are purely hypothetical objects. Although it is unlikely that there is a strange substance. There is another way to stabilize wormholes: negative energy.
The space-time void is full of quantum fields. The fundamental quantum building blocks create the forces and particles we experience, and these quantum fields have internal energy. In some fictitious scenarios, the quantum energy in a certain region can be lower than the surrounding environment, thus creating negative energy at a local level. This negative energy exists in the real world in the form of the Casimir effect. According to this definition, negative quantum energies between two parallel metal plates cause the two plates to attract each other.
But no one knows if negative quantum energy can be used to stabilize a wormhole. Maybe this energy is not the right kind of negative energy because it only has a negative relationship with the surrounding environment and not in an absolute way. Wormholes typically occur at microscopic scales in a quantum bubble; which is the nature of space-time in small scales. In this case, wormholes appear and disappear continuously; But how can these wormholes be created in such a large way that one can walk in them and at the same time maintain the stability of these objects? it’s not specified yet.
Is it possible to travel in time through a wormhole?
According to theories, wormholes can act like a time machine. According to the theory of special relativity, the moving clock passes slowly. In other words, time does not pass for a person traveling at the speed of light as it does for a person standing still.
If scientists can reconstruct a wormhole, the two sides of the wormhole are initially synchronized in time; But if one side accelerates with a speed close to the speed of light, then one of the inputs will be placed in the past of the other. To travel back in time, you must move in one direction. In this case, when you exit the wormhole, you travel back in time. So it can be said that in this case Time travel would be possible through a wormhole.
Unlike a wormhole, a black hole has no exit
The difference between a wormhole and a black hole
According to a simple definition, a black hole is a point of space with very high gravity and density that even light cannot escape from. This attraction is so strong that it compresses all matter into a small space. Albert Einstein first proposed the possibility of black holes in 1915 with the theory of general relativity. The term “black hole” was coined a few years later in 1967 by an American astronomer named John Wheeler. According to the theory of general relativity, mass that is compressed enough can bend space-time form a black hole. The black hole’s point of no return was called the event horizon. Black holes do not reflect any light; But they can be identified based on the effects they leave on the materials and objects around them. In the future, powerful telescopes like the James Webb will reveal more secrets about black holes.
On the other hand, wormholes act like space-time tunnels that connect two distant points. However, wormholes are not stable according to the current rules and negative mass or negative energy is needed to maintain them. Although wormholes are attractive theoretical objects, their existence in the real world has not yet been proven and accepted by the scientific community; But it does not mean that they cannot exist at all. For example, black holes were not proven until 1910.
Einstein first published his famous equations in 1915, and Carl Schwarzschild found a way to mathematically describe black holes just a year later. However, this definition was so strange that scientists at the time rejected the existence of objects like black holes. It took fifty years since then for scientists to think seriously about black holes. The same issue is true for wormholes and it takes some time to prove their existence or non-existence. However, if scientists discover real wormholes in the future, this discovery can change the way humanity looks at the world.
Is it possible to make a wormhole?
Although wormholes have not yet been proven to exist in the real world, it is possible to simulate wormhole conditions in the laboratory under controlled conditions on a small scale. Physicists have recently used a quantum computer to implement a new type of quantum teleportation, or the ability to transfer state between distant points. In this case, the information is transferred instantly. Although teleportation is an important technique in quantum technology, the purpose of this experiment was to simulate the behavior of a wormhole.
5 facts you didn’t know about wormholes
1. Wormholes have two openings and a throat that connects these two openings.
2. Wormholes appear regularly but cannot be recorded or used as they disintegrate in just a few seconds.
3. Wormholes are extremely unstable and any foreign matter around them causes them to collapse and this issue can lead to the release of radiation.
4. If someone can enter the wormhole, it is impossible to say where his destination will be. A person may be transported to a different time or a different world.
5. If you travel using a wormhole, you may not find any way back to the same point of origin. So the wormhole journey may be a one-way ticket.
common questions
TheIs there a real picture of the wormhole?
Since no real wormholes have been discovered or proven in the world yet, there are no photos of these supposed objects.
Can wormholes travel through time?
If a wormhole can be found in the universe, these objects are very unstable and disintegrate quickly, so it is impossible to pass through the wormhole under normal conditions. But if certain conditions are created, such as creating negative energy and passing through a wormhole, one can experience time travel and get out of time or even another world.
What is the difference between a wormhole and a black hole?
A space wormhole is actually a tunnel that connects two points in space and time. But a black hole has a point of no return called the event horizon, from which nothing, not even light, can escape. Black holes have been proven, but wormholes are still hypothetical.
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