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In 1935, Albert Einstein and Nathaniel Rosen published a study that presented a strange new mathema>cal object. In form, it looked like two universes with a bridge connec>ng them. Einstein and Rosen hoped that these bridges could represent par>cles in Einstein’s general theory of rela>vity, but later developments in quantum mechanics shaGered that idea. Eventually, John Archibald Wheeler gave them the iconic name ‘wormhole,’ and it stuck. Wheeler’s student, a Logan na>ve named Kip Thorne, went on to publish a landmark paper with Michael Morris examining whether such a bridge could be used for interstellar travel. Morris and Thorne based their paper on research they had done for their friend Carl Sagan, who used a wormhole as a means of interstellar travel in his 1985 novel Contact. Since then, the wormhole has become a staple of science fic>on, most notably featuring in the 2014 film Interstellar (Figure 1) A wormhole connects two different universes, or two widely separated parts of the same universe. (Figure 2) By traveling through a wormhole, a traveler could quickly arrive at a distant point in space without needing to cross the intervening distance. This could greatly shorten interstellar travel >mes. Wormholes – Gates to the Stars? How an Einstein-Rosen bridge could destroy our Solar System Samuel Shreeve, Utah State University | Jim Wheeler, Utah State University Unfortunately, the simple wormholes described by Einstein and Rosen, some>mes called Schwarzschild wormholes, cause serious problems for any future space explorer. The first, and most glaring, is that they are unstable – they collapse so fast that even an object moving the speed of light could not pass through. The second problem involves the intense >dal forces. For a person entering a wormhole feet-first, the gravita>onal force on their feet is stronger than the force on their head. The same is true on Earth, of course, but the difference is so small as to not be no>ced. For a wormhole, however, the field is so strong that the difference in gravita>onal forces would rip our traveler in pieces. For our experiment, let us follow the lead of Interstellar, and place our wormhole near Saturn. Luckily for our would-be space travelers, we can solve the problem of >dal gravity by just increasing the mass of our wormhole. How massive would this wormhole have to be for our intrepid explorers to survive? It turns out it must be 10,000 >mes the mass of the Sun. Its radius would be 53,000 km, or almost large enough to swallow Saturn whole. And it is certainly enough to rip the rest of the planets out of their orbits and into new ones around the wormhole. To save the Solar System, we must push the wormhole about 60 >mes further away than Neptune. Faced with problems like these, Morris, Thorne, and others have done research on how to make a wormhole useful for space travel. They were able to find a way to fix the problems caused by the gravita>onal field, and to make the wormhole stable, but only if we can find maGer that has nega>ve energy. Although later research has shown that we might be able to get away with very small amounts of this exo>c maGer, we haven’t found a way to get rid of it so far. However, recent studies of conformal gravity – a special way of extending General Rela>vity – has shown that we can get rid of exo>c maGer in other situa>ons where it crops up. With further research, it may work for wormholes too. Research conducted with funding from a USU College of Science Minigrant. Figure 1 – The black hole Gargantua, from the film Interstellar. An Einstein-Rosen bridge would look very similar to a black hole. Figure 2 – An embedding diagram of a wormhole Samuel Shreeve Utah State University Physics [email protected] What is a Wormhole? Einstein-Rosen Bridges Solar System: Destroyed Making Wormholes Work Image Credit: Paramount Pictures Photo by AllenMcC (Crea8ve Commons A:ribu8on Sharealike 3.0) Want to know more? Download the paper here:

Wormholes - Gates to the Stars?

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Page 1: Wormholes - Gates to the Stars?

In1935,AlbertEinsteinandNathanielRosenpublishedastudythatpresentedastrangenewmathema>calobject.Inform,itlookedliketwouniverseswithabridgeconnec>ngthem.EinsteinandRosenhopedthatthesebridgescouldrepresentpar>clesinEinstein’sgeneraltheoryofrela>vity,butlaterdevelopmentsinquantummechanicsshaGeredthatidea.Eventually,JohnArchibaldWheelergavethemtheiconicname‘wormhole,’anditstuck.Wheeler’sstudent,aLoganna>venamedKipThorne,wentontopublishalandmarkpaperwithMichaelMorrisexaminingwhethersuchabridgecouldbeusedforinterstellartravel.MorrisandThornebasedtheirpaperonresearchtheyhaddonefortheirfriendCarlSagan,whousedawormholeasameansofinterstellartravelinhis1985novelContact.Sincethen,thewormholehasbecomeastapleofsciencefic>on,mostnotablyfeaturinginthe2014filmInterstellar(Figure1)Awormholeconnectstwodifferentuniverses,ortwowidelyseparatedpartsofthesameuniverse.(Figure2)Bytravelingthroughawormhole,atravelercouldquicklyarriveatadistantpointinspacewithoutneedingtocrosstheinterveningdistance.Thiscouldgreatlyshorteninterstellartravel>mes.

Wormholes–GatestotheStars?HowanEinstein-RosenbridgecoulddestroyourSolarSystem

SamuelShreeve,UtahStateUniversity|JimWheeler,UtahStateUniversity

Unfortunately,thesimplewormholesdescribedbyEinsteinandRosen,some>mescalledSchwarzschildwormholes,causeseriousproblemsforanyfuturespaceexplorer.Thefirst,andmostglaring,isthattheyareunstable–theycollapsesofastthatevenanobjectmovingthespeedoflightcouldnotpassthrough.Thesecondprobleminvolvestheintense>dalforces.Forapersonenteringawormholefeet-first,thegravita>onalforceontheirfeetisstrongerthantheforceontheirhead.ThesameistrueonEarth,ofcourse,butthedifferenceissosmallastonotbeno>ced.Forawormhole,however,thefieldissostrongthatthedifferenceingravita>onalforceswouldripourtravelerinpieces.

Forourexperiment,letusfollowtheleadofInterstellar,andplaceourwormholenearSaturn.Luckilyforourwould-bespacetravelers,wecansolvetheproblemof>dalgravitybyjustincreasingthemassofourwormhole.Howmassivewouldthiswormholehavetobeforourintrepidexplorerstosurvive?Itturnsoutitmustbe10,000>mesthemassoftheSun.Itsradiuswouldbe53,000km,oralmostlargeenoughtoswallowSaturnwhole.Anditiscertainlyenoughtoriptherestoftheplanetsoutoftheirorbitsandintonewonesaroundthewormhole.TosavetheSolarSystem,wemustpushthewormholeabout60>mesfurtherawaythanNeptune.

Facedwithproblemslikethese,Morris,Thorne,andothershavedoneresearchonhowtomakeawormholeusefulforspacetravel.Theywereabletofindawaytofixtheproblemscausedbythegravita>onalfield,andtomakethewormholestable,butonlyifwecanfindmaGerthathasnega>veenergy.Althoughlaterresearchhasshownthatwemightbeabletogetawaywithverysmallamountsofthisexo>cmaGer,wehaven’tfoundawaytogetridofitsofar.However,recentstudiesofconformalgravity–aspecialwayofextendingGeneralRela>vity–hasshownthatwecangetridofexo>cmaGerinothersitua>onswhereitcropsup.Withfurtherresearch,itmayworkforwormholestoo.

ResearchconductedwithfundingfromaUSUCollegeofScienceMinigrant.

Figure1–TheblackholeGargantua,fromthefilmInterstellar.AnEinstein-Rosenbridgewouldlookverysimilartoablackhole.

Figure2–Anembeddingdiagramofawormhole

SamuelShreeveUtahStateUniversityPhysicssamuel.t.shreeve@gmail.com

WhatisaWormhole? Einstein-RosenBridges SolarSystem:Destroyed

MakingWormholesWork

ImageCredit:ParamountPictures

PhotobyAllenMcC(Crea8veCommonsA:ribu8onSharealike3.0)

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