Wormholes and The Possibility of Time Travel

Wormholes have intrigued both science fiction writers and theoretical physicists alike for decades. However, the wormholes envisioned in science fiction are vastly different than those that are seriously contemplated in modern theoretical physics; primarily due to the former’s “inviability at macroscopic scales”. In recent years, there has been a reinvigoration of interest in wormhole geometries. With regards to quantum gravity, both non-traversable and traversable wormholes geometries have been recently considered.

Wormholes were first considered mathematically within the realm of relativity as early as 1921 by the mathematician Herman Weyl. However, it wasn’t until 1957 that the American theoretical physicist, John Archibald Wheeler, first made use of the term “wormhole”. A wormhole is a hypothetical structure which bridges two distinct points in spacetime, “much like the real tunnels bored by worms in a (Newtonian) apple”.

There are 3 types of wormholes, the first type of wormholes is a Einstein Rosen Bridge, the second type is a String theory wormholes, and finally human made wormholes. All of these wormholes are right now just math but in the future scientist might just find one somewhere in the universe.

Einstein Rosen bridges are the first type of wormholes to be theorised about. These wormholes are theorised to be in every black hole at the place where the singularity is and leads to a infinite parallel universe where time is backwards, so in our universe things are sucked into the the black hole but in the parallel universe things are spewed of of it, this is a white hole. But Einstein Rosen bridges can’t actually be crossed since you need a infinite amount of energy and an infinite amount of time to cross them and the shut at the middle. So if you try to go through them you would age and die, and your body will be stuck at the singularity forever. Also since no one has went to the parrel and you might not be able to enter a white hole too. So if we want to be able to travel the universe in a blink of an eye, we will need a different type of wormhole, a wormhole with no singularity so we can cross it. Fortunately there is a type of wormhole that meets these standards.

If String theory or one of its variations is the correct description of the universe, then string theory wormholes could be a easy way the travel the universe. String theory wormholes are wormholes with no singularities and were created in the first few milliseconds after the big bang. These wormholes were formed by quantum fluctuations which created rips in spacetime with cosmic strings in strung through them. As the universe expanded quickly these small rips in spacetime were scattered across the universe and the strings were stretched with them. These wormholes could be the closest thing to a wormhole we could get without making one ourselves. However there is on problem, the cosmic strings in these wormholes could break if the try to make them to much and if they do break gravity will collapse the wormhole into a black hole. Which makes them very dangerous and hard to use as we won’t be able to move it much as if we try to move it too much the string holding the back the gravity of the wormhole would snap it would form a black hole.

There is one type of wormhole that is alot more useful than Einstein Rosen bridges and String theory wormholes as it can be moved and has no singularity. These are man-made wormholes. Man-made wormholes are wormholes that are created by humans. To create a man made wormhole we will need to fold spacetime like a sheet of paper then open a hole in it. This requires a huge amount of energy as spacetime is very hard to change. Even after you have broken a gap in spacetime you still will need something to keep the gravity from closing the wormhole, for this we need a new type of matter known as exoctic matter. Exoctic matter is not dark or antimatter but something new and exciting. It is a type of matter that has negative mass. Since gravity is determined by the mass of a object, a object with negative mass will have reverse gravity or in other words a object made of exoctic matter would repel things unlike objects that are made of matter attract things, this makes exotic matter the perfect candidate to keep a man made wormhole open. Though there is one problem, the exotic matter would have to exert an immense amount of energy to keep the wormhole open, more energy than even in the center of neutron stars. This type of matter may not exist but if it does it could be the best chance of instant travel for humans.

There are many challenges for human to overcome when using wormholes from time paradoxes to breaking the fabric of the universe. But if humans will be able to overcome these challenges we could create an interstellar civilization that is hundreds of light years around but, only a wormhole away. But where we find a wormhole, as for right now only on paper but maybe there is a wormhole somewhere in the universe that is just waiting for scientists to discover it or maybe there is a wormhole closer than we thought.