Wormholes
Wormholes are much more theoretical extension of blackholes. In an attempt to explain what could possibly happen beyond the event horizon of a blackhole and what the singualirty could hold, the theory of wormholes was proposed. Keep in mind that, unlike blackholes, we have yet to discover a wormhole. This does that mean however that the theory of wormholes is not a vaildy scientific proposal and should not be considered fully.
A wormhole is essentially the connection between the two singularities of blackholes. If the singularity of a blackhole produces an infinitely deep gravity well, it is possible that that well could connect to other wells in the fabric of space-time or the fabric of space-time in another parallel universe altogether. We will save this second possibility for the section on alternate dimensions and parellel universes.
In the previous chapter we said that theory suggest no living thing could make it through the singularity of a blackhole. In our theoretical wormhole, the signularity has either warped the fabric of space time so much so that it has shrunk the space-time between two distant point or combined with another warp in some other part of space time to form a sort of bridge between these two points. If the curvature of the universe is such that point to point contact is possible then wormholes are a potential shortcut from one place to another.
Take the example on the right. This is a diagram of a slice of space-time surrounding a wormhole. If we were to take a ship and travel from one end of the wormhole to another we would have to travel the entire curvature of the universe around the hump in the picture and back, a potentially very long trip based on the relatively minute curvature of the universe. If however we were able to drop unscathed into a wormhole and somehow survive the gravitational and time distortive effects of the wormhole, we could pop out on the other side of the cure in a much smaller amount of time. A wormhole is such a promising idea because it would provide us with a way to curcumvent the speed of light limit on the universe since a network of wormholes are not limited to the normal surface of space time.
Wormholes, a relativistic possibility, also provide for some interesting theoretical playing with the space-time continuum. If one end of the wormhole were traveling at close to the speed of light (remember, space and time are both values, so we can change both of them) the time dilation on one end would slow that end's relative time to a crawl. If you were to then enter the other end you could theoretically go back in time. Of course you could not go past the creation of the wormhole, but the idea is still mind boggling. Another potential time effect of the wormhole is its ability to move matter across space time faster than that matter could move the long way if it were moving at the speed of light. This breaks the theory of relativity's speed of light limit on travel in the universe. For example if you were to find one end of a worm hole and blink a light at one end, then pop into the wormhole and immerge 1 light year away a few minutes later, you would have beaten the light to that destination, and relativity states that effecting events (like arriving somewhere) outside a "cone of light influence" (light as it expands outwards graphed vs. time) is impossible and is traveling backwards in time.
