Microscopic wormholes possible in theory理论上可能存在微小的虫洞by University of Oldenburg Credit: CC0 Public Domain奥尔登堡大学信用：CC0公共领域Wormholes play a key role in many science fiction films—often as a shortcut between two distant points in space. In physics, however, these tunnels in spacetime have remained purely hypothetical. An international team led by Dr. Jose Luis Blázquez-Salcedo of the University of Oldenburg has now presented a new theoretical model in the science journal Physical Review Letters that makes microscopic wormholes seem less far-fetched than in previous theories.虫洞在许多科幻电影中扮演着关键的角色，常常是太空中两个遥远点之间的捷径。然而，在物理学中，这些时空隧道仍然是纯粹的假设。奥尔登堡大学的Jose Luis Blázquez Salcedo博士领导的一个国际研究小组在《物理评论快报》科学期刊上提出了一个新的理论模型，该模型使得微观虫洞看起来不像以前的理论那么牵强。Wormholes, like black holes, appear in the equations of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, published in 1916. An important postulate of Einstein's theory is that the universe has four dimensions—three spatial dimensions and time as the fourth dimension. Together they form what is known as spacetime, and spacetime can be stretched and curved by massive objects such as stars, much as a rubber sheet would be curved by a metal ball sinking into it.蠕虫洞像黑洞一样，出现在1916年发表的爱因斯坦广义相对论方程中。爱因斯坦理论的一个重要假设是，宇宙具有四个维度-三个空间维度和时间作为第四维度。它们一起形成了所谓的时空，时空可以被诸如星星之类的大物体拉伸和弯曲，就像橡胶板会被沉入其中的金属球弯曲一样。The curvature of spacetime determines the way objects like spaceships and planets, but also light, move within it. "In theory, spacetime could also be bent and curved without massive objects," says Blázquez-Salcedo, who has since transferred to the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain. In this scenario, a wormhole would be an extremely curved region in spacetime that resembles two interconnected funnels and connects two distant points in space, like a tunnel. "From a mathematical perspective such a shortcut would be possible, but no one has ever observed a real wormhole," the physicist explains.时空的曲率决定着太空飞船和行星等物体以及光在其中的移动方式。 “从理论上讲，时空也可以在没有大物体的情况下弯曲和弯曲。”布拉兹克斯-萨尔塞多说。在这种情况下，虫洞在时空中将是一个极度弯曲的区域，类似于两个相互连接的漏斗并连接空间中的两个遥远点，例如隧道。这位物理学家解释说：“从数学的角度来看，这样的捷径是可能的，但没人能观察到真正的虫洞。”Moreover, such a wormhole would be unstable. If for example a spaceship were to fly into one, it would instantly collapse into a black hole—an object in which matter disappears, never to be seen again. The connection it provided to other places in the universe would be cut off. Previous models suggest that the only way to keep the wormhole open is with an exotic form of matter that has a negative mass, or in other words weighs less than nothing, and which only exists in theory. However, Blázquez- Salcedo and his colleagues Dr. Christian Knoll from the University of Oldenburg and Eugen Radu from the Universidade de Aveiro in Portugal demonstrate in their model that wormholes could also be traversable without such matter.而且，这种虫洞将是不稳定的。例如，如果一艘太空飞船要飞入其中，它会立即崩溃成一个黑洞-一个物质消失的物体，再也看不到了。它与宇宙中其他地方的联系将被切断。先前的模型表明，保持虫洞开放的唯一方法是使用奇异的物质，该物质的质量为负，换句话说，其重量小于或等于零，并且仅在理论上存在。但是，来自奥尔登堡大学的Blázquez-Salcedo及其同事Christian Knoll博士和来自葡萄牙阿威罗大学的Eugen Radu博士在他们的模型中证明，如果没有这种问题，虫洞也是可以穿越的。The researchers chose a comparatively simple "semiclassical" approach. They combined elements of relativity theory with elements of quantum theory and classic electrodynamics theory. In their model they consider certain elementary研究人员选择了一种相对简单的“半古典”方法。他们将相对论的要素与量子理论和经典的电动力学理论相结合。在他们的模型中，他们认为某些基本知识particles such as electrons and their electric charge as the matter that is to pass through the wormhole. As a mathematical description, they chose the Dirac equation, a formula that describes the probability density function of a particle according to quantum theory and relativity as a so-called Dirac field.诸如虫子之类的粒子以及它们要穿过虫洞的电荷。作为数学描述，他们选择了狄拉克方程，该方程根据量子论和相对论将粒子的概率密度函数描述为所谓的狄拉克场。As the physicists report in their study, it is the inclusion of the Dirac field into their model that permits the existence of a wormhole traversable by matter, provided that the ratio between the electric charge and the mass of the wormhole exceeds a certain limit. In addition to matter, signals—for example electromagnetic waves— could also traverse the tiny tunnels in spacetime. The microscopic wormholes postulated by the team would probably not be suitable for interstellar travel.正如物理学家在他们的研究中所报告的那样，将Dirac场包含到他们的模型中允许存在可被物质穿越的虫洞，前提是该虫洞的电荷与质量之比超过一定限制。除物质外，信号（例如电磁波）也可以在时空中穿越微小的隧道。团队推测的微观虫洞可能不适合星际旅行。Moreover, the model would have to be further refined to find out whether such unusual structures could actually exist. "We think that wormholes can also exist in a complete model," says Blázquez-Salcedo.此外，该模型必须进一步完善，以查明是否可能确实存在这种异常结构。 Blázquez-Salcedo说：“我们认为虫洞也可以存在于完整的模型中。”点击查看：更多有关物理学文章更多探索太空分类文章使用文档翻译功能 免责声明：福昕翻译只充当翻译功能，此文内容及相关信息仅为传递更多信息之目的，仅代表作者个人观点，与本网站无关，版权归原始网站所有。仅供读者参考，并请自行核实相关内容。若需要浏览原文、下载参考文献等，请自行搜索文中提到的原文网站进行阅读。来源于：phys