Wormholes Period 5 Group 3 (Jeff, Shashank, JingJing) Post # 3

Wormholes 

          From our research we concluded that wormholes do exist and it is possible to travel through one, but there are many many implications. As mentioned in the post before, wormholes would collapse far too quickly to used as a form of transportation. But as mentioned before, it is possible to keep a wormhole up for long enough so that travel through it is possible. In order for it to be stable, exotic matter must be introduced into it. 

         What is exotic matter? Well scientifically it is matter with a negative energy density. This might sound counter intuitive but it simply means matter that is more than nothing. This seems almost impossible, because the most that one could do was to remove the matter itself and be left with just a vacuum. But with quantum physics, it has been proven that it is possible than an area in space can be less than nothing, and thus have a negative energy density, or its energy per unit of volume would be negative. As quoted from an article

            "The concept of negative energy is not pure fantasy; some of its effects have even been produced in the laboratory. They arise from Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which requires that the energy density of any electric, magnetic or other field fluctuate randomly. Even when the energy density is zero on average, as in a vacuum, it fluctuates."

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle suggests that the energy density of any field that is electric of magnetic fluctuates, so that of the field as a whole has an average of zero energy density, then some parts of the field would have a positive energy density, which also supports the fact that other places must have a negative energy density to counteract this positive density.

"Waves of light ordinarily have a positive or zero energy density at different points in space (top). But in a so-called squeezed state, the energy density at a particular instant in time can become negative at some locations (bottom). To compensate, the peak positive density must increase."
















Why is this negative energy necessary?
         Through our research, we came across many physics topics that are still very complicated and hard to explain, but can be somewhat understandable. It is understood, through the work of Stephen Hawkings, that black holes radiate energy. Remember that wormholes consist of two black holes as mouths.
But how can a black hole radiate energy if not even light can escape it?
          This comes into conflict with some laws of thermodynamics which state that energy is conserved. Because at a black holes horizon, the point "of no return" where not even light can escape, energy is only going in. In order to counteract this, because energy is always at a thermodynamic equilibrium, negative energy is being sucked in, which maintains the thermodynamic equilibrium. Therefore this negative energy, or exotic matter plays an important role in black holes.

Another way to think about it is because exotic matter has a negative energy, it would have a repulsive gravitational force, since the force of gravity is determined by the mass of the corresponding object. In simple terms it will be able to hold open the wormhole, in simple terms.

Simply put, it is possible to travel through wormholes, provided there is some way to pump in exotic energy.

But many other implications are still present. Where would we get the amount of energy needed to create a black hole, the amount of energy equal to a super nova? If negative energy were to be introduced into the black hole, then the ship traveling within it would have to have protection against this strong force of gravity. Also the fact that as gravity increases, time dilates, or slows down.

There are not many solutions to these other implications, but some solutions are to gather the amount of energy that is required, it can be harvested from an isolated reaction between matter and antimatter. One solution to the force of gravity that would affect the ship would be for the ship to have a gravitational barrier, which would keep the passengers safe. An example of this is the earths gravity field prevents anyone on earth from feeling the pull of the sun.

So conclusively, the ability to travel through wormholes is absolutely possible theoretically, but we are no where near being able to. Another, more closer idea that would allow travel at speeds faster than light is traveling through hyperspace. This idea is similar to wormholes, but not the same concept at all. Hyperspace involves traveling at speeds faster than light by traveling through a space-time bubble. The ship would be traveling in a bubble that contracts space time in front of the ship, while riding the wave of the expansion of this compression.

While all these technologies are far beyond our reach, that does not stop us from dreaming. The idea of being able to step through a tunnel on earth and end up in another galaxy within seconds is very science fictional indeed, but the fact that it has been proven through science and studied for decades gives us hope that one day this scientific idea will become reality.

Works Cited
HyperSpace and Wormholes for total idiots. Relicnews forums. Relicnews. 2 July 2004. Web. 19 October 2013.
Lawrence H. Ford and Thomas A. Roman. Negative Energy - Wormholes and Warpdrive-. Biblioteca PLeyades. Scientific America. January 2000. Web. 15 october 2013.
Nola Taylor Redd. What is a Wormhole? Space.com. 29 April 2013. Web. October 10 2013.
http://www.space.com/20881-wormholes.html
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?28599-Hyperspace-and-Wormholes-for-total-idiots
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/negativeenergy/negativeenergy.htm