What is a wormhole? Will astronauts inevitably die if they find themselves inside a wormhole? (4 photos) Rabbit hole physics

Astrophysicists are sure: there are tunnels in space through which you can move to other Universes and even to other times. Presumably, they were formed when the Universe was just beginning. When, as scientists say, space “boiled” and curved.

These cosmic “time machines” were given the name “wormholes.” A “hole” differs from a black hole in that you can not only get there, but also come back. The time machine exists. And this is no longer a statement by science fiction writers - four mathematical formulas, which so far in theory prove that you can move both into the future and into the past.

And a computer model. This is roughly what a “time machine” in space should look like: two holes in space and time connected by a corridor.

“In this case we are talking about very unusual objects that were discovered in Einstein’s theory. According to this theory, in a very strong field, space is curved, and time either twists or slows down, these are fantastic properties,” explains Igor Novikov, deputy director of the Astrospace Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute.

Scientists call such unusual objects “wormholes.” This is not a human invention at all; so far only nature is capable of creating a time machine. Today, astrophysicists have only hypothetically proven the existence of “wormholes” in the Universe. It's a matter of practice.

The search for wormholes is one of the main tasks of modern astronomy. “They started talking about black holes somewhere in the late 60s, and when they made these reports, it seemed like science fiction. It seemed to everyone that this was absolute fantasy - now it’s on everyone’s lips,” says Anatoly Cherepashchuk, director of the Astronomical Institute of Moscow State University named after Sternberg. - So now “wormholes” are also science fiction, nevertheless the theory predicts that “wormholes” exist. I’m an optimist and I think that the wormholes will also be opened someday.”

“Wormholes” belong to such a mysterious phenomenon as “dark energy”, which makes up 70 percent of the Universe. “Dark energy has now been discovered - it is a vacuum that has negative pressure. And in principle, “wormholes” could be formed from a state of vacuum,” suggests Anatoly Cherepashchuk. One of the habitats of “wormholes” is the centers of galaxies. But the main thing here is not to confuse them with black holes, huge objects that are also located at the center of galaxies.

Their mass is billions of our Suns. At the same time, black holes have a powerful gravitational force. It is so large that even light cannot escape from there, so it is impossible to see them with a regular telescope. The gravitational force of wormholes is also enormous, but if you look inside the wormhole, you can see the light of the past.

“In the center of galaxies, in their cores, there are very compact objects, these are black holes, but it is assumed that some of these black holes are not black holes at all, but entrances to these “wormholes,” says Igor Novikov. Today, more than three hundred black holes have been discovered.

From Earth to the center of our Milky Way galaxy is 25 thousand light years. If it turns out that this black hole is a “wormhole”, a corridor for time travel, humanity will have to fly and fly to it.

There are many interesting things in outer space that are still incomprehensible to humans. We know the theory about black holes and we even know where they are. However, of greater interest are wormholes, with the help of which movie characters move throughout the Universe in seconds. How do these tunnels work and why is it better for a person not to go into them?

The films Star Trek, Doctor Who and the Marvel universe have one thing in common: traveling through space at great speed. If today it takes at least seven months to fly to Mars, then in the world of science fiction this can be done in a split second. High-speed travel is carried out using so-called wormholes (wormholes) - this is a hypothetical feature of space-time, which is a “tunnel” in space at each moment in time. To understand the principle of operation of the “hole”, you just have to remember Alice from “Through the Looking Glass”. There, the role of a wormhole was played by a mirror: Alice could instantly find herself in another place just by touching it.

The picture below shows how the tunnel works. In films, this is what happens: characters board a spaceship, quickly fly to the portal and, upon entering it, immediately find themselves in the right place, for example, on the other side of the Universe. Alas, even in theory it works differently.

General relativity allows for the existence of such tunnels, but so far astronomers have not been able to find one. According to theorists, the first wormholes were less than a meter in size. It can be assumed that with the expansion of the Universe they also increased. But let's get to the main question: even if wormholes exist, why is using them a very bad idea? Astrophysicist Paul Sutter explained what the problem is with wormholes and why it is better for a person not to go there.

Wormhole theory

First, it’s worth finding out how black holes operate. Imagine a ball on a stretched elastic fabric. As it approaches the center, it decreases in size and at the same time becomes denser. The fabric bends more and more under its weight, until finally it becomes so small that it simply closes over it, and the ball disappears from sight. In the black hole itself, the curvature of space-time is infinite - this state of physics is called a singularity. It has neither space nor time in human understanding.

According to the theory of relativity, nothing can travel faster than light. This means that nothing can get out of this gravitational field once it gets into it. A region of space from which there is no exit is called a black hole. Its boundary is determined by the trajectory of the light rays that were the first to lose the opportunity to escape. It's called the event horizon of a black hole. Example: looking out of the window, we do not see what is beyond the horizon, and a conventional observer cannot understand what is happening inside the boundaries of an invisible dead star.

There are five types of black holes, but we are interested in the stellar-mass black hole. Such objects are formed at the final stage of the life of a celestial body. In general, the death of a star can result in the following things:

1. It will turn into a very dense extinct star, consisting of a number of chemical elements - it is a white dwarf;

2. A neutron star - has the approximate mass of the Sun and a radius of about 10-20 kilometers, inside it consists of neutrons and other particles, and outside it is enclosed in a thin but hard shell;

3. Into a black hole, the gravitational attraction of which is so strong that it can suck in objects flying at the speed of light.

When a supernova occurs, that is, the “rebirth” of a star, a black hole is formed, which can only be detected due to the radiation emitted. It is she who is capable of generating a wormhole.

If you imagine a black hole as a funnel, then an object falling into it loses its event horizon and falls inside. So where is the wormhole? It is located in exactly the same funnel, attached to the black hole tunnel, where the exits face outward. Scientists believe that the other end of the wormhole is connected to a white hole (the opposite of a black hole, into which nothing can fall).

Why you don't need to go into a wormhole

In white hole theory, not everything is so simple. Firstly, it is not clear how exactly to get into a white hole from a black one. Calculations around wormholes show that they are extremely unstable. Wormholes can evaporate or “spit out” a black hole and trap them again.

If a spaceship or a person falls into a black hole, he will get stuck there. There will be no way back - from the side of the black hole, for sure, because he will not see the event horizon. But the unfortunate person can try to find a white hole? No, because he does not see boundaries, so he will have to “fall” towards the singularity of a black hole, which may have access to the singularity of a white one. Or maybe not.

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A wormhole is a theoretical passage through space-time that could significantly shorten long journeys throughout the universe by creating shortcuts between destinations. The existence of wormholes is predicted by the theory of relativity. But along with convenience, they can also carry extreme dangers: the danger of sudden collapse, high radiation and dangerous contacts with exotic matter.

The theory of wormholes, or “wormholes”

In 1935, physicists Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen used the theory of relativity to propose the existence of “bridges” in space-time. These paths, called Einstein-Rosen bridges or wormholes, connect two different points in space-time, theoretically creating shortest corridors that reduce travel distance and time.

Wormholes have two mouths connected by a common neck. The mouths most likely have a spherical shape. The neck can be a straight section, but it can also curl, becoming longer the longer the regular route.

Einstein's general theory of relativity mathematically predicts the existence of wormholes, but none have been discovered to date. A negative mass wormhole can be tracked due to the effect of its gravity on light passing by.

Some solutions of the general theory of relativity allow the existence of “wormholes”, each entrance (mouth) of which is a black hole. However, natural black holes formed by the collapse of a dying star do not themselves create a wormhole.

Through the wormhole

Science fiction is replete with stories of travel through wormholes. But in reality, such travel is much more complex, and not only because we must first discover such a wormhole.

The first problem is size. Relic wormholes are believed to exist at a microscopic level, about 10 -33 centimeters in diameter. However, as the Universe expands, it is possible that some of them grew to large sizes.

Another problem arises from stability. More precisely, due to its absence. The wormholes Einstein-Rosen predicted would be useless for travel because they collapse too quickly. But more recent research has shown that wormholes containing "exotic matter" can remain open and unchanged for longer periods of time.

Exotic matter, which should not be confused with dark matter or antimatter, has negative density and enormous negative pressure. Such matter can only be detected in the behavior of certain vacuum states within the framework of quantum field theory.

If wormholes contain enough exotic matter, either naturally occurring or added artificially, then they could theoretically be used as a way to transmit information or a corridor through space.

Not only can wormholes connect two different ends of the same universe, they could also connect two different universes. Also, some scientists have suggested that if one wormhole entrance moved in a certain way, it could be useful for time travel . However, their opponents, such as British cosmologist Stephen Hawking, argue that such use is not possible.

While adding exotic matter to a wormhole may stabilize it to the point that human species can safely travel through it, there is still the possibility that adding "regular" matter will be enough to destabilize the portal.

Current technology is not enough to enlarge or stabilize wormholes, even if they are found in the near future. However, scientists continue to explore this concept as a method of space travel with the hope that the technology will eventually emerge and they will eventually be able to use wormholes.

Based on materials from Space.com

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Humanity is exploring the world around us at an unprecedented speed, technology does not stand still, and scientists are exploring the world around us with their sharp minds. Undoubtedly, space can be considered the most mysterious and little-studied area. This is a world full of mysteries that cannot be understood without resorting to theories and fiction. A world of secrets that go far beyond our understanding.

Space is mysterious. He keeps his secrets carefully, hiding them under the veil of knowledge inaccessible to the human mind. Humanity is still too helpless to conquer Space, like the already conquered world of Biology or Chemistry. All that is currently available to man are theories, of which there are countless.

One of the greatest mysteries of the Universe is Wormholes.

Wormholes in space

So, a Wormhole (“Bridge”, “Wormhole”) is a feature of the interaction of two fundamental components of the universe - space and time, and in particular - their curvature.

[The concept of “Wormhole” in physics was first introduced by John Wheeler, the author of the theory of “charge without charge”]

The peculiar curvature of these two components allows one to overcome colossal distances without spending a colossal amount of time. To better understand the principle of operation of such a phenomenon, it is worth remembering Alice from Through the Looking Glass. The girl's mirror played the role of the so-called Wormhole: Alice could, just by touching the mirror, instantly find herself in another place (and if we take into account the scale of space, in another universe).

The idea of ​​the existence of wormholes is not just a whimsical invention of science fiction writers. Back in 1935, Albert Einstein co-authored works proving the possibility of so-called “bridges.” Although the Theory of Relativity allows this, astronomers have not yet been able to detect a single Wormhole (another name for a Wormhole).

The main problem of detection is that, by its nature, the Wormhole absorbs absolutely everything, including radiation. And it doesn’t “let” anything out. The only thing that can tell us the location of the “bridge” is gas, which, when it enters the Wormhole, continues to emit X-ray radiation, unlike when it enters the Black Hole. Similar behavior of gas was recently discovered in a certain object Sagittarius A, which leads scientists to believe that there is a Wormhole in its vicinity.

So is travel through Wormholes possible? In fact, there is more fantasy here than reality. Even if we theoretically assume that a Wormhole will be discovered in the near future, modern science would be faced with a lot of problems that it is not yet able to cope with.

The first stone on the path to mastering the Wormhole will be its size. According to theorists, the first burrows were less than a meter in size. And only, relying on the theory of an expanding universe, can we assume that the Wormholes increased along with the universe. This means they are still increasing.

The second problem on the path of science will be the instability of Wormholes. The ability of the “bridge” to collapse, that is, to “slam shut,” negates the possibility of using or even studying it. In fact, the lifespan of a Wormhole can be tenths of a second.

So what will happen if we discard all the “stones” and imagine that a person nevertheless made a passage through the Wormhole. Despite the fiction that talks about the possibility of returning to the past, it is still impossible. Time is irreversible. It moves in only one direction and cannot go back. That is, “seeing yourself young” (as, for example, the hero of the film “Interstellar” did) will not work. This scenario is guarded by the theory of causality, unshakable and fundamental. Transferring “oneself” to the past implies the ability for the hero of the journey to change it (the past). For example, kill yourself, thus preventing yourself from traveling into the past. This means there is no possibility of being in the future, where the hero came from.

A group of physicists from Germany and Greece under the general leadership of Burkhard Clayhaus presented a fundamentally new look at the problem wormholes. That's what they're called hypothetical objects where the curvature of space and time occurs.

They are believed to be tunnels through which one can travel to other worlds in one moment.

Wormholes, or wormholes, as they are also called, are known to every science fiction fan, where these objects are described very vividly and impressively (although in books they are more often called zero-space). It is thanks to them that heroes can move from one galaxy to another in a very short time. As for real wormholes, the situation with them is much more complicated. It is still unclear whether they actually exist, or whether this is all the result of the wild imagination of theoretical physicists.

According to traditional views, wormholes are some hypothetical property of our Universe, or rather, space and time. According to the concept of the Einstein-Rosen bridge, at every moment in time certain tunnels can appear in our Universe through which you can get from one point in space to another almost instantly (that is, without losing time).

It would seem that you can teleport with their help to your heart's content! But here’s the problem: firstly, these wormholes are extremely small (only elementary particles can easily roam through them), and secondly, they exist for an extremely short time, millionths of a second. That is why it is extremely difficult to study them - until now, all models of wormholes have not been experimentally confirmed.

Nevertheless, scientists still have some idea of ​​what could be inside such a tunnel (although, alas, it is also only theoretical). It is believed that everything there is filled with so-called exotic matter (not to be confused with dark matter, these are different matters). And this matter got its nickname from the fact that it consists of fundamentally different elementary particles. And because of this, most physical laws are not observed in it - in particular, energy can have a negative density, the force of gravity does not attract, but repels objects, etc. In general, inside the tunnel everything is completely different from normal people. But it is precisely this irregular matter that provides that very miraculous transition through the wormhole.

As a matter of fact, Einstein’s famous general theory of relativity is very loyal to the possibility of the existence of wormholes - it does not refute the existence of such tunnels (although it does not confirm). Well, what is not prohibited is, as we know, permitted. Therefore, many astrophysicists, since the middle of the last century, have been actively trying to find traces of at least some more or less stable wormhole.

Strictly speaking, their interest can be understood - if it turns out that such a tunnel is possible in principle, then traveling through it to distant worlds will become a very simple matter (of course, provided that the wormhole is located not far from the solar system). However, the search for this object is complicated by the fact that scientists still, strictly speaking, do not quite understand what exactly to look for. In fact, it is impossible to directly see this hole, since it, like black holes, sucks everything into itself (including radiation), but does not release anything. We need some indirect signs of its existence, but the question is - what exactly?

And recently, a group of physicists from Germany and Greece, under the general leadership of Burkhard Clayhaus from the University of Oldenburg (Germany), in order to alleviate the suffering of astrophysicists, presented a fundamentally new look at the problem of wormholes. From their point of view, these tunnels can really exist in the Universe and be quite stable. And, according to Clayhouse’s group, there is no exotic matter inside them.

Scientists believe that the emergence of wormholes was caused by quantum fluctuations that were characteristic of the early Universe almost immediately after the Big Bang and gave rise to the so-called quantum foam. Let me remind you that quantum foam is a kind of conditional concept that can be used as a qualitative description of subatomic space-time turbulence at very short distances (on the order of the Planck length, that is, a distance of 10 -33 cm).

Figuratively speaking, quantum foam can be imagined as follows: imagine that somewhere in very short periods of time, in very small regions of space, energy sufficient to transform this piece of space into a black hole can spontaneously appear. And this energy appears not just out of nowhere, but as a result of the collision of particles with antiparticles and their mutual annihilation. And then a kind of seething cauldron will appear before our eyes, in which black holes continuously appear and immediately disappear.

So, according to the authors of the study, Immediately after the Big Bang, our Universe consisted entirely of quantum foam.. And they arose in her at every moment of time not only black holes, but also wormholes. And then the inflation (that is, expansion) of the Universe should not only inflate it to enormous sizes, but also at the same time sharply increase the holes and make them stable. So much so that it became possible for even fairly large bodies to penetrate them.

However, there is one catch here. The fact is that although large bodies, according to this model, can enter a wormhole, the gravitational influence on them upon entry should be very small. Otherwise they will simply be torn into pieces. But if the curvature of space-time at the entrance is “smooth,” then the journey through it itself cannot be instantaneous. It, according to the researchers’ calculations, will take tens or even hundreds of light years, since the exit from the wormhole, accessible to a large body, will be very far from the entrance.

Researchers believe that detecting these objects in the Universe, although not easy, is still possible. Even though they may be similar to black holes, there are still differences. For example, in a black hole, gas that falls beyond the event horizon immediately stops emitting X-rays, while gas that falls into a wormhole (which does not have an event horizon) continues to do so. By the way, similar behavior of gas was recently recorded by Hubble in the vicinity of the object Sagittarius A*, which is traditionally considered a massive black hole. But judging by the behavior of the gas, it may be a stable wormhole.

According to the Clayhouse group's concept, there may be other signs indicating the existence of wormholes. Theoretically, one can imagine a situation where astronomers will directly note the inadequacy of the picture behind the wormhole if the telescope accidentally turns into its sector of the starry sky. In this case, it will show a picture tens or hundreds of light years away, which astronomers can easily distinguish from what should actually be in this place. The star's gravity (if it is on the other side of the wormhole) can also distort the light of distant stars passing near the wormhole.

It should be noted that the work of Greek and German physicists, although purely theoretical, is very important for astronomers. For the first time, she systematizes all the possible signs of wormholes that can be observed. This means that, guided by it, these tunnels can be detected. That is, now scientists know what exactly they need to look for.

Although, on the other hand, if the Clayhouse group's model is true, the value of wormholes for humanity is sharply reduced. After all, they do not provide an immediate transition to other worlds. Although, of course, you should still study their properties in case they are useful for something else...