Discussion about this post

User's avatar
suman suhag's avatar

No. Physicists believe (something like) that if try to model “particles” as geometric structures using the field equations, there are solutions to the equations—for a universe that is an idealised vacuum with no matter (i.e. not our universe)—in which the universe appears to have two outsides joined by a “throat” (aka an Einstein–Rosen bridge).

Or something like that. The actual idea is almost impossible to understand if you don’t already know how to solve the field equations (and I don’t).

The takeaway is that, gushing physicists notwithstanding, Einstein–Rosen bridges occur in idealised mathematics not in reality.

Q: I mean, do they expect to find one someday?

No. The original Einstein–Rosen bridge gives no reason to think such structures exist in our universe. They cannot exist in a universe with matter.

Q: Or do physicists simply agree that wormholes can't be ruled out, because nothing we know about the laws of physics prohibits their existence?

Apart from offering a false dichotomy that doesn’t include the actual answer, the laws of physics are invented by humans to describe patterns of experience when interacting with the world. These “laws” are descriptive, not prescriptive.

Our laws cannot “prohibit” anything. If something “prohibited” (i.e. not predicted by the current model) happens, we have no option but to change the law! This is how we got general relativity in the first place, i.e. the precession of the orbit of Mercury was “prohibited” by Newton’s laws of motion and so those laws were superseded.

Expand full comment
scott's avatar

Another great article, please keep them coming! Thankyou

Expand full comment
1 more comment...

No posts