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Title: Wormholes in spacetime and their use for interstellar travel: A tool for teaching general relativity

Abstract

Rapid interstellar travel by means of spacetime wormholes is described in a way that is useful for teaching elementary general relativity. The description touches base with Carl Sagan's novel Contact, which, unlike most science fiction novels, treats such travel in a manner that accords with the best 1986 knowledge of the laws of physics. Many objections are given against the use of black holes or Schwarzschild wormholes for rapid interstellar travel. A new class of solutions of the Einstein field equations is presented, which describe wormholes that, in principle, could be traversed by human beings. It is essential in these solutions that the wormhole possess a throat at which there is no horizon; and this property, together with the Einstein field equations, places an extreme constraint on the material that generates the wormhole's spacetime curvature: In the wormhole's throat that material must possess a radial tension tau/sub 0/ with the enormous magnitude tau/sub 0/approx. (pressure at the center of the most massive of neutron stars) x (20 km)/sup 2//(circumference of throat)/sup 2/. Moreover, this tension must exceed the material's density of mass-energy, rho/sub 0/c/sup 2/. No known material has this tau/sub 0/>rho/sub 0/c/sup 2/ property, and such material would violatemore » all the ''energy conditions'' that underlie some deeply cherished theorems in general relativity. However, it is not possible today to rule out firmly the existence of such material; and quantum field theory gives tantalizing hints that such material might, in fact, be possible.« less

Authors:
;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Theoretical Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125
OSTI Identifier:
5435651
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Am. J. Phys.; (United States)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 56:5
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; BLACK HOLES; SPACE-TIME; RELATIVITY THEORY; ANALYTICAL SOLUTION; EINSTEIN FIELD EQUATIONS; SCHWARZSCHILD METRIC; SINGULARITY; EQUATIONS; FIELD EQUATIONS; FIELD THEORIES; GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY; METRICS; 657003* - Theoretical & Mathematical Physics- Relativity & Gravitation

Citation Formats

Morris, M S, and Thorne, K S. Wormholes in spacetime and their use for interstellar travel: A tool for teaching general relativity. United States: N. p., 1988. Web. doi:10.1119/1.15620.
Morris, M S, & Thorne, K S. Wormholes in spacetime and their use for interstellar travel: A tool for teaching general relativity. United States. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.15620
Morris, M S, and Thorne, K S. 1988. "Wormholes in spacetime and their use for interstellar travel: A tool for teaching general relativity". United States. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.15620.
@article{osti_5435651,
title = {Wormholes in spacetime and their use for interstellar travel: A tool for teaching general relativity},
author = {Morris, M S and Thorne, K S},
abstractNote = {Rapid interstellar travel by means of spacetime wormholes is described in a way that is useful for teaching elementary general relativity. The description touches base with Carl Sagan's novel Contact, which, unlike most science fiction novels, treats such travel in a manner that accords with the best 1986 knowledge of the laws of physics. Many objections are given against the use of black holes or Schwarzschild wormholes for rapid interstellar travel. A new class of solutions of the Einstein field equations is presented, which describe wormholes that, in principle, could be traversed by human beings. It is essential in these solutions that the wormhole possess a throat at which there is no horizon; and this property, together with the Einstein field equations, places an extreme constraint on the material that generates the wormhole's spacetime curvature: In the wormhole's throat that material must possess a radial tension tau/sub 0/ with the enormous magnitude tau/sub 0/approx. (pressure at the center of the most massive of neutron stars) x (20 km)/sup 2//(circumference of throat)/sup 2/. Moreover, this tension must exceed the material's density of mass-energy, rho/sub 0/c/sup 2/. No known material has this tau/sub 0/>rho/sub 0/c/sup 2/ property, and such material would violate all the ''energy conditions'' that underlie some deeply cherished theorems in general relativity. However, it is not possible today to rule out firmly the existence of such material; and quantum field theory gives tantalizing hints that such material might, in fact, be possible.},
doi = {10.1119/1.15620},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5435651}, journal = {Am. J. Phys.; (United States)},
number = ,
volume = 56:5,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988},
month = {Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988}
}