What if we could cross distances on an astronomical scale in the blink of an eye by using a wormhole?
This is a topic full of speculation – but if research has been published recently, it may not be as far-fetched as it sounds through an interdimensional wormhole.
Two separate groups of researchers have proposed new theories on how to make wormholes safe for human movement. Both papers were published in the journal today Physical overview letters.
Wormholes have long been used as a convenient plot tool in science fiction, connecting two corners of the universe through an interdimensional portal – though its existence has yet to be proven.
And then there is the problem of gravity collapse. If there were wormholes, the connection would eventually interfere if something moved from one side to the other. Therefore, some theorists suggest that exotic materials be used to keep the wormhole open.
But we may not even need exotic affairs, as Jose Blázquez-Salcedo of the Complutense University of Madrid and his colleagues suggest. In their framework, matter consists of fermions, an elementary particle that is treated by many as the building block of matter.
By changing the mass and charge of the fermions, Blázquez-Salcedo argues that transverse wormholes can exist – but only if the ratio of the total charge to the total mass within the wormhole is greater than a theoretical limit that was originally through black holes.
However, there is one problem: the proposed wormholes are only microscopic and too small for humans to pass through.
But Juan Maldacena of the Institute for Advanced Study, New Jersey, and Alexey Milekhin of Princeton University may have a solution for a much larger permeable wormhole.
Their five-dimensional wormhole, as set out in a separate paper, could theoretically enable a person to travel across an entire galaxy in less than a second and experience a force of less than 20 g.
The only problem is that only the person crossing the wormhole will see a second pass. To any outsider, it seems that the journey takes thousands of years.
READ MORE: Wormholes open for transport [Physics]
More about wormholes: Astrophysicist says it’s likely we could travel through wormholes
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