Wormholes are a strange consequence of Einstein's theory of general relativity. These "shortcuts" through the fabric of space and time may link two different locations in the universe; they may even connect two different universes together.
This also leads to the possibility that wormholes can allow travel between two points in time. These strange entities have provided science fiction stories with material for many years, but there is credible physics behind wormholes. Now it seems that in theory slowly-rotating wormholes may be able to generate their own magnetic field. Could this be used to detect the presence of wormholes in our observable Universe?
Last month, researchers from the National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan investigated the properties of a slowly rotating wormhole and the effect this would have on a surrounding volume of space. Their calculations assume as the wormhole rotates, it drags space with it.
This gravitational effect is known as "frame-dragging". Einstein's general relativity predicts that space-time will be warped. The best way to visualize this is to imagine a heavy ball on an elastic sheet; the ball causes the sheet to stretch downward, in a cone-shape. If the ball is spun on the sheet, friction between the ball and elastic will cause the sheet to distort in another way, it will begin to twist out of shape. If you apply this idea to space-time (the elastic sheet), and you have a slowly rotating wormhole (the ball), distortions in space-time will have a dragging effect on the surrounding particles, causing them to spin with the wormhole.
If you have a rotating mass of charged particles like this, a magnetic field may be generated. Therefore, in theory, a slowly-rotating wormhole could have its own opening inside … ‘negative energy’ if you will, allowing something – or somebody – to travel through and end up somewhere else …. or somewhen else!
Washington Post/Univ Today
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