From: mk_thisisit
Wormholes and Spacetime Tunnels
The idea of wormholes, also known as the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, originated from the work of Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen in the mid-1930s [00:18:31]. This concept is a property of spacetime, first discovered by Karl Schwarzschild in 1916 [00:18:44].
A formal mathematical solution suggests that if eternal black holes and an eternal universe exist (meaning a black hole that has always been present), then this solution includes a black hole, a white hole, and a space-time tunnel connecting them [00:00:35]. However, this specific type of wormhole is not traversable [00:19:08].
To construct a stable wormhole through which travel would be possible, forms of energy or matter are required that are not currently known to exist in the universe [00:00:56], [00:19:25]. While theoretically such wormholes might exist, it is generally believed that nature does not produce stable, traversable ones [00:19:51], [00:20:07]. This remains an unproven area of physics [00:20:16].
The Information Paradox
The information paradox is a significant paradox in modern physics, primarily associated with the work of Stephen Hawking on black holes [00:21:51].
The Premise: Information Preservation
In theoretical physics, all laws of nature suggest that information is preserved and cannot be destroyed [00:21:21], [00:21:25]. For example, if a book is burned, all emitted light, heat, atoms, photons, and smoke particles can theoretically be perfectly measured, and in principle, the book could be rebuilt [00:21:31]. While practically impossible, it is theoretically achievable [00:21:46], [00:21:49].
The Paradox with Black Holes
The question raised by Hawking’s work is whether this principle of information preservation also applies to black holes [00:21:57]. If a book is thrown into a black hole, is the information about that book recorded or returned to the universe before the black hole eventually evaporates due to Hawking radiation [00:22:03], [00:22:14]?
Hawking’s initial calculations indicated that this information would not be contained in the radiation, implying that what enters a black hole is not only completely mixed but also erased [00:22:39], [00:22:51], [00:23:01]. This contradicts the fundamental principle of information preservation.
Current Understanding
Hundreds of thousands of physicists have worked on this problem over the last 50 years [00:23:10]. The current prevailing opinion is that information does come out again, albeit in a very mixed way, recorded in the radiation [00:23:17], [00:23:24], [00:23:27]. This suggests that there was an error in Hawking’s initial calculations [00:23:37], [00:23:40].
The Role of Spacetime and Quantum Gravity
Black holes are described in Einstein’s theory as pure spacetime geometry [00:24:01], [00:24:04]. Hawking radiation originates from the black hole’s event horizon, essentially being “torn out” of the vacuum of space [00:24:09], [00:24:21]. The challenge is understanding how information about what fell into the black hole is eventually recorded in this radiation that comes from the vacuum and the event horizon [00:24:28].
Some speculative interpretations suggest the existence of a type of space-time tunnel, different from Einstein’s bridges, that opens from the inside of the black hole to the outside, allowing information to escape [00:24:58], [00:25:09]. This is a very speculative area of research, based on complex mathematics without direct evidence [00:25:12], [00:25:16].
The ongoing research into black holes and the information paradox is providing fleeting insights into a deeper theory of space-time [00:25:20], [00:25:23]. This pursuit of understanding how black holes behave, particularly regarding quantum information and quantum entanglement, is leading to a significant leap in our understanding of quantum theory and how reality operates [00:29:01], [00:29:09], [00:29:26].