Tunnels in Space: How Shadows Give Them Away ✦
Wormholes are hypothetical tunnels in spacetime. Scientists simulated on a computer how magnetized gas falls onto a rotating wormhole. It turned out that its throat (the narrowest part) emits nearly periodic pulses, like a cosmic lighthouse — unlike black holes. This could be the key to detecting wormholes.
Water going down a kitchen sink drain swirls into a funnel. If the drain leads to another pipe, the flow churns at the narrow point. Gas falling into a wormhole — a tunnel connecting two edges of the Universe — behaves the same way. Computer simulations show: superheated plasma (ultra-hot gas) piles up at the wormhole's 'throat,' forming a shadow with an extra bright spot — as if a ring has a bulge.
The big surprise: this clump of gas makes the wormhole 'blink' — its brightness rhythmically changes every few minutes. Radio telescopes observing the centers of active galaxies can catch this flickering. Even from afar, the curvature of space around the throat reveals itself through the shadow's unique geometry and pulsation — a clear sign that we're looking not at a black hole, but a portal.
🎯 The idea of a wormhole as a bridge between universes first emerged with Ludwig Flamm in 1916, just a year after Einstein published his general theory of relativity. The term itself only appeared in 1957, courtesy of John Wheeler.
🎬 In 'Interstellar,' the wormhole was shown as a sphere; calculations confirm we would notice its shadow and flicker.