1. Wormholes PHYS43 Modern Physics, SRJC Section 5756 Instructor: Dr. Younes Ataiiyan Modern Physics Project, Spring 2011 May 10, 2011 Melissa Meikle Melody Golobic

2. Space-time Time is considered the 4 th dimension of our Universe (Our Universe has 3 dimensions of space and 1 of time) Einstein said you can think of these 4 dimensions as fabric (ie fabric of space-time)

3. What are Wormholes? Hypothetical tunnel connecting two different regions in space- time Traveling through a wormhole takes less time than traveling between the same starting and ending regions in normal space In theory, the ends of wormhole could be intra-universe or inter- universe

4. Weight added to a piece of fabric will cause sag towards the center – Super massive black holes cause a tear in space- time and this tear is the wormhole – These two regions would meet and form a wormhole connection

5. Shape Defined as short cut through space and time Has to fold the 2D concept of space and time to create a 3D situation Becomes the bridge from one dimension to the other Made up of: 2 mouths and a throat

6. Properties Highly unstable Most likely would collapse instantly if the smallest amount of matter (ie single photon) attempted to pass through

7. Wormholes:a connection According to laws of Newton every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Since a black holes is an object that takes in energy that goes into where, there must be an object that ejects energy out of no where. Wormholes connect whiteholes and blackholes.

8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c49QP0Ofkd8&feature=related Video explanation of wormholes

10. History of the wormhole Einstein first proposed wormholes in 1935. He co-wrote a paper with Nathan Rosen in which they showed that general relativity allowed for what they called “bridges.” They theorized that there could be places where space/time is folded that allowed transfer of matter from one point to another in the universe, specifically in blackholes.

11. History of the wormhole Carl Sagan’s Novel Contact in 1985 prompted physicist Kip Thorne to develop a space transport system which led him to a never before seen solution to Einstein GTR equation describing large traversable wormholes.

12. Types Lorentzian wormholes (general relativity) – Short-cuts through space and time – Mainly studied by experts in Einstein gravity Euclidean wormholes (particle physics) – Live in “imaginary time” – Intrinsically virtual quantum mechanical processes – Of interest mainly to the particle physicists (quantum field theorists)

13. Do Wormholes Exist? Theorists believed wormholes could exist for only an instant of time and anyone trying to pass through would run into a singularity – Singularity: marks a point where the curvature of space-time is infinite (it possesses zero volume and infinite density)

14. No observational evidence, but on theoretical level there are valid solutions to the equations of general relativity – General Theory of Relativity: According to Einstein, gravity is not a force but an effect of mass curving (warping) space and time (space- time)

15. Time Travel? As with any mode of faster-than-light travel, wormholes offer the possibility of time travel The only material used to stabilize wormholes from pinching off is material having negative energy density and large negative pressure/tension that is larger in magnitude than the energy density, called “exotic matter” – “exotic matter” could prevent a wormhole from collapsing on itself – No classical matter can do this, but it is possible that quantum fluctuations in various fields might be able to

16. Metrics Theories of wormhole metrics describe the space-time geometry of a wormhole and serve as theoretical models for time travel Traversable wormhole metric: One type of non-traversable wormhole metric is the Schwarzschild solution:

19. References http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/wormhole.html http://library.thinkquest.org/27930/wormhole.htm http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=follow-up-what- exactly-is http://www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/strange/html/wormhole.html http://www.universetoday.com/52443/wormhole/ http://www.se51.net/2011/02/01/goddamn-stargates-how-do-they-work/ http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/schww.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormholes http://www.deism.com/einstein.htm http://physics.about.com/od/relativisticmechanics/a/relativity_4.htm http://ajp.aapt.org/resource/1/ajpias/v56/i5/p395_s1?isAuthorized=no http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=141447 http://thescincedelusion.blogspot.com/2010/05/on-relativity-of-light.html http://www.light-and-illusion.com/space-art-science-fiction- art/?cat=3&paged=3