Wormholes may already have been discovered, say physicists: ScienceAlert

Virtual bridges connecting distant regions of space (and time) can more or less look like a garden of variety black holeswhich means that it is possible that these legendary physics beasts have already been seen.

But fortunately, if the new model proposed by a small team of physicists from Sofia University in Bulgaria is accurate, they can still be distinguished.

Play with Einstein General theory of relativity Long enough, it is possible to show how the space-time background of the universe can form not only deep gravitational pits where nothing escapes – it can form impossible mountain peaks that cannot be climbed.

Unlike their darker cousins, these glowing hills would slither away from anything approaching, burping out streams of particles and radiation that had no hope of turning back.

Distinguished possibility aside Big Bang looks just like one of these’white holes‘Nothing like that has ever been noticed. Nevertheless, it remains an interesting concept to explore the edges of one of the greatest theories in physics.

in the thirtiesa colleague of Einstein named Nathan Rosen showed that there is nothing to say about deeply curved spacetime Black hole The steep peaks of a white hole cannot be contacted to form a kind of bridge.

In this corner of physics, our daily predictions about distance and time go out the window, which means that such a theoretical link could traverse vast swaths of the universe.

Under the right conditions, it might even be possible for matter to board this cosmic tube and exit the other end with its information more or less intact.

So to determine what this wormhole black hole might look like to observatories like the Event Horizon Telescope, the Sophia University team developed a simplified model of a wormhole “ring” as a magnetized ring of fluid, and made various assumptions about how the matter might come about. Circle it before you swallow it.

Particles stuck in this furious storm would produce strong electromagnetic fields that would spin and snap in predictable patterns, polarizing any light emitted by the hot matter with a distinct signature. It was tracking polarized radio waves that gave us the first amazing images of M87 * In 2019 and Sagittarius A* earlier this year.

It turns out that the wormhole’s hot, smoky lips are hard to distinguish from the polarized light emitted by the chaotic disk that surrounds the black hole.

By this logic, M87* could be a wormhole. In fact, wormholes could lurk at the end of black holes everywhere, and we wouldn’t have an easy way to find out.

This does not mean that there is no way of knowing at all.

If we were to get lucky and compile an image of a filter wormhole as seen indirectly through a decent gravitational lens, the precise characteristics that distinguish wormholes from black holes might become apparent.

This would require a mass conveniently placed between us and the wormhole to distort its light enough to amplify small differences, of course, but it would at least give us a way to detect dark spots from the void that have a back exit.

There is another medium that also requires a good dose of wealth. If we detect a wormhole at a perfect angle, the light traveling through its dividing entrance towards us will enhance its signature even more, giving us a clearer indication of a portal through the stars and beyond.

Additional modeling could reveal other properties of light waves that help sort wormholes out of the night sky without the need for a lens or perfect angles, a possibility the researchers are now turning their attention to.

Put more restrictions In the physics of wormholes can reveal new ways of exploration not only general relativityBut the physics that describes the behavior of waves and particles.

Beyond that, Lessons learned from predictions Such ones could reveal where general relativity breaks down, opening some of its own holes to make bold new discoveries that could give us a whole new way of seeing the universe.

This research was published in physical review d.