I also suspect that we will produce worm holes spontaneously and
develop them from there. Theoretical work is helpful in establishing
validity but there is way too much here to count on a simple theory
to fall out.
I have posted a lot on wormholes and it is worth while googling this
blog for comment.
I also think that the time aspect can be managed sufficiently to
produce useful systems capable of continuous transport. This would
massivelycut the costs built into our civilization while making
interstellar trtansport possible.
Could
wormholes allow TIME TRAVEL? Collapsing 'tunnels' could let us
receive messages from the future, claims physicist
- Wormholes are theoretical tunnels that create shortcuts in space-time
- If a message entered a wormhole, it could reach the future or the past
- But wormholes are thought to collapse before a message could get out
- Dr Luke Butcher argues if a wormhole is longer than it is wide, the amount of negative energy inside would allow it to stay open longer than normal
- Long enough, he claims, to carry a single particle of light through time
- In theory, this photon could carry a message to a distant past or future
By ELLIE
ZOLFAGHARIFARD
PUBLISHED: 18:16
GMT, 22 May 2014 | UPDATED: 20:09 GMT, 22 May 2014
We’ve
all wished someone from the future could send us tomorrow’s lottery
ticket numbers.
While
it may seem wishful thinking, a physicist from Cambridge University
believes that, in theory, it could be possible.
He
argues that if a thin wormhole stays open long enough, people might
send messages instantly through time using pulses of light.
Wormholes
are theoretical tunnels that create shortcuts in space-time. Dr Luke
Butcher at Cambridge University argues that if a thin wormhole stays
open long enough, people could send messages through time using
pulses of light. In theory, this light- called a photon - could carry
a message to a distant past or future
WHAT
IS A WORMHOLE?
Space-time
can be warped and distorted. It takes an enormous amount of matter or
energy to create such distortions, but theoretically, distortions are
possible.
In
the case of the wormhole, a shortcut is made by warping the fabric of
space-time. Imagine folding a piece of paper with two pencil marks
drawn on it to represent two points in space-time.
The
line between them shows the distance from one point to the other in
normal space-time.
If
the paper is now bent and folded over almost double - the equivalent
to warping space-time - then poking the pencil through the
paper provides a much shorter way of linking the two points, in the
same way a wormhole would create a shortcut.
The
problem with using wormholes to travel in space or time is that they
are inherently unstable. When a particle enters a wormhole, it also
creates fluctuations that cause the structure to collapse in on it.
The
latest study suggests there are unusual-shaped wormholes than may be
able to stay open longer than normal.
It
sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but the theory of wormholes
being used to send objects through time was first suggested by Albert
Einstein's calculations.
Wormholes
are theoretical tunnels through the fabric of space-time that can
create shortcuts for long journeys across the universe.
The
problem with his theory is that, if wormholes exist, they don’t
stay open long enough for a human, or even a single particle of
light, to pass through them.
But
a new study at Cambridge University suggests that some wormholes are
capable of staying open long enough to send messages backwards and
forwards through time.
In
1988, physicist Kip Thorne at the California Institute of Technology
suggested that wormholes might be kept open through the use of a
negative energy, known as Casimir energy.
According
to modern physics, the vacuum is full of fluctuating electromagnetic
waves of different possible wavelengths which creates a vast amount
of energy, normally invisible to humans.
Between
two parallel plates in a vacuum, some energy waves would be too large
to fit through creating a negative Casimir energy.
Professor
Luke Butcher’s recent paper builds on that theory by
suggesting that if a wormhole is a lot longer than it is wide, the
amount of Casimir energy naturally present inside it would be enough
to allow it to stay open longer than normal.
‘My
approach was to see if the wormhole itself – because it has a
tube-like structure - could create the same effect as the plates,’
Dr Butcher told MailOnline.
‘My
calculations showed that if a wormhole is very long compared to how
wide it is, you can get negative energy created in the centre of the
wormhole.
‘It’s
not quite the right sort to keep the wormhole stable – which is
what I’d hoped - but it does mean the wormhole collapses very
slowly.'
The
wormhole would be open just long enough, Dr Butcher suggests, to send
a photon through to the centre.
Skinny
wormholes could send messages through time
Like
some bizarre form of optical fibre, a long, thin wormhole might let
you send messages through time using pulses of light.
Predicted
by Einstein's general theory of relativity, wormholes are
tunnels connecting two points in space-time. If something could
traverse one, it would open up intriguing possibilities, such as time
travel and instant communications.
But
there's a problem: Einstein's wormholes
are notoriously unstable,
and they don't stay open long enough for anything to get through. In
1988, Kip Thorne at the California Institute of Technology and his
colleagues speculated that wormholes could be kept open using a form
of negative energy calledCasimir
energy.
Quantum
mechanics tells us that the vacuum of space-time is teeming with
random quantum fluctuations, which create waves of energy. Now
imagine two metal plates sitting parallel in this vacuum. Some energy
waves are too big to fit between the plates, so the amount of energy
between them is less than that surrounding them. In other words,
space-time between the plates has negative energy.
Slow
collapse
Theoretical
attempts to use such plates to keep wormholes open have so far proved
untenable. Now Luke
Butcher at
the University of Cambridge may have found a solution.
"What
if the wormhole itself could take the place of the plates?" he
says. In other words, under the right circumstances, could the
tube-like shape of the wormhole itself generate Casimir energy? His
calculations show that if the wormhole's throat is orders of
magnitude longer then the width of its mouth, it does indeed create
Casimir energy at its centre.
"Unfortunately,
this energy isn't enough to keep the wormhole stable. It will
collapse," says Butcher. "But the existence of negative
energy does allow the wormhole to collapse very slowly." Further
rough calculations show that the wormhole's centre might remain open
long enough to allow a pulse of light to get through.
A
wormhole is a shortcut
through space-time,
so sending a light pulse through one could allow faster-than-light
communication. And as the two mouths of a wormhole can exist at
different points in time, in theory a message could be sent through
time.
Butcher
cautions that a lot more work is needed to confirm that other parts
of the wormhole besides the centre remain open long enough for light
to make it all the way through. He also needs to work out whether a
pulse large enough to transmit meaningful information could sneak
through the slowly collapsing throat. And, of course, we are a long
way off translating the theoretical equations into a physical object.
"Does
this mean we have the technology for building a wormhole?" asks
Matt Visser at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
"The answer is still no." Still, he is intrigued by
Butcher's work. "From a physics perspective, it may revitalise
interest in wormholes."
The
worm hole would be open just long enough, Dr Butcher suggests, to
send a photon through to the other side. Because the ends of a
wormhole can exist at different points in time, if Professor
Butcher's theory proves correct, a message could be sent through time
Because
the ends of a wormhole can exist at different points in time, if
Professor Butcher’s theory proves correct, a message could be sent
through time.
Dr
Butcher warned a lot more work needs to be down to confirm his
theory.
For
instance, scientists still need to find out whether a pulse of light
large enough to transmit a meaningful message can get through a
collapsing wormhole and whether the pulse can actually escape the
wormhole completely.
4
‘More
calculations need to be done away from centre closer to mouths to see
if the theory holds true,’ added Dr Butcher.
‘I
would also like to look at the opposite case.
'Could
a very short and fat worm hole be able to send messages through
time?
‘This
is all very much theoretical, but the possibilities are intriguing.’
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