Speculative wormhole echoes could revolutionize astrophysics

The scientific collaborations LIGO and Virgo have detected gravitational waves from the fusion of two black holes, inaugurating a new era in the study of the cosmos. But what if those ripples of space-time were not produced by black holes, but by other exotic objects? A team of European physicists suggest an alternative—wormholes that can be traversed to appear in another universe.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-06-speculative-wormhole-echoes-revolutionize-astrophysics.html#jCp

Tau.Neutrino said:

Speculative wormhole echoes could revolutionize astrophysics

The scientific collaborations LIGO and Virgo have detected gravitational waves from the fusion of two black holes, inaugurating a new era in the study of the cosmos. But what if those ripples of space-time were not produced by black holes, but by other exotic objects? A team of European physicists suggest an alternative—wormholes that can be traversed to appear in another universe.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-06-speculative-wormhole-echoes-revolutionize-astrophysics.html#jCp

> But what if those ripples of space-time were not produced by black holes, but by wormholes that can be traversed to appear in another universe?

And what if my pet rock started talking relativity to me?

Get real.

mollwollfumble said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Speculative wormhole echoes could revolutionize astrophysics

The scientific collaborations LIGO and Virgo have detected gravitational waves from the fusion of two black holes, inaugurating a new era in the study of the cosmos. But what if those ripples of space-time were not produced by black holes, but by other exotic objects? A team of European physicists suggest an alternative—wormholes that can be traversed to appear in another universe.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-06-speculative-wormhole-echoes-revolutionize-astrophysics.html#jCp

> But what if those ripples of space-time were not produced by black holes, but by wormholes that can be traversed to appear in another universe?

And what if my pet rock started talking relativity to me?

Get real.

Yes, it is getting difficult to imagine wormholes replacing back holes.

mollwollfumble said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Speculative wormhole echoes could revolutionize astrophysics

The scientific collaborations LIGO and Virgo have detected gravitational waves from the fusion of two black holes, inaugurating a new era in the study of the cosmos. But what if those ripples of space-time were not produced by black holes, but by other exotic objects? A team of European physicists suggest an alternative—wormholes that can be traversed to appear in another universe.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-06-speculative-wormhole-echoes-revolutionize-astrophysics.html#jCp

> But what if those ripples of space-time were not produced by black holes, but by wormholes that can be traversed to appear in another universe?

And what if my pet rock started talking relativity to me?

Get real.

I’m a bit surprised by that reaction.

They did say speculative.

> “The confirmation of echoes in the LIGO or Virgo signals would be a practically irrefutable proof that astrophysical black holes don’t exist. Time will tell if these echoes exist or not. If the result were positive, it would be one of the greatest discoveries in the history of physics.”

Well, yes and no. It would not prove that black holes don’t exist. It would not even prove that at least one exotic compact object exists.

Further, exotic compact objects are not going to be wormholes. They may be fuzzballs, naked singularities, white holes or cosmic strings. But not wormholes.

However, they’re right in that the discovery of echoes would be one of the greatest discoveries in the history of physics.

mollwollfumble said:

> “The confirmation of echoes in the LIGO or Virgo signals would be a practically irrefutable proof that astrophysical black holes don’t exist. Time will tell if these echoes exist or not. If the result were positive, it would be one of the greatest discoveries in the history of physics.”

Well, yes and no. It would not prove that black holes don’t exist. It would not even prove that at least one exotic compact object exists.

Further, exotic compact objects are not going to be wormholes. They may be fuzzballs, naked singularities, white holes or cosmic strings. But not wormholes.

However, they’re right in that the discovery of echoes would be one of the greatest discoveries in the history of physics.

In the link three threads after this, there’s the comment that echoes in the LIGO or Virgo signals would show that the initiating event was in a galactic core. That’s the real reason they’re being looked for – not to find traversable wormholes.