Light And Wormholes

So much seems to have been written about wormholes. These are, at this point, the theoretical "holes" in the fabric of space that provide a "shortcut" from one place to another in the universe. 

Wormholes are often associated with black holes. A black hole is so-called because anything that goes in can never get out, not even light, so great is it's gravity. But what is the reason that nothing ever emerges from a black hole? Could it be a one-way door to somewhere else in the universe?

This idea of a "shortcut" across space isn't quite as far-fetched as it might sound. When a smaller object is in orbit around a larger one, a planet around a star, five Lagrangian Points are manifested. These are the points where the gravity of the two balances. The James Webb Space Telescope is at earth's L2. It is known that, while Lagrangian Points don't provide wormholes, it requires much less energy to move an object from one Lagrangian Point to another than it would otherwise.

I have another idea of what wormholes likely are, if they exist, and how we might look for them. My approach involves the nature of light and how we fit into the universe.

A basic presumption in science is that we have an unbiased view of the universe, that we can completely rely on our measurements and observations. For other sciences, such as chemistry and meteorology, that presumption works fine. But when we get to cosmology, the fundamental nature of the universe, things change. So much about the universe that we cannot explain neatly falls into place when we realize that we do not have an unbiased view of the universe. We are part of the universe, and see it as we do, not only because of what it is but also because of what we are.

I have long been interested in the relationship between straight lines and light. We define a straight line as "the shortest possible distance between two points". The trouble with that is that we get most of our information from light. We will always perceive light as traveling in a straight line. The path taken by light is our definition of a straight line.

We know that gravity bends light, and scientists are making use of "gravitational lensing". But what if there was some other definition of straight lines in space that light was not taking? The light, and other electromagnetic waves, that we rely on for information about the universe may indeed be taking a roundabout way to get to us that we have not yet detected, simply because we will always perceive light as moving in a straight line. It is only relatively recently that gravitational lensing has been proven to occur.

If there was another definition of a straight line, aside from the path of light that we will always perceive as a straight line, that means there would be "shortcuts" across space that we would be unable to see. This does not necessarily involve other dimensions, only the nature of light and the way it passes through space.

Could that be what wormholes are,missedey exist? I think this would be by far the most sensible explanation, and would free us from looking for the bizarre physics that would be needed to explain how "doorways" in space exist. 

It may not be that the universe has bizarre features beyond our understanding, but that we have too much confidence that we have an unbiased view of the universe and that we can completely rely on our observations and measurements. We are made of matter ourselves and, as part of the universe, we see it as we do not only because of what it is but also because of what we are. We rely on light for information but this means we will always perceive that light as moving in a straight line.

If an electron, moving through a wire as an electric current, could think it would always perceive itself as moving in a straight line, no matter how tangled the wire might be. The only definition the electron has of a straight line is it's own movement. If the electron was suddenly given an opportunity to jump across a loop in the wire, it would see this as a wormhole.

The best analogy that I can think of actually comes from physical geography. It is what is known as an "oxbow lake". 

This is the Buffalo River, in Buffalo NY. The reason that it has twists and turns like this is that it is a new river, only formed after the end of the last ice age. Image from Google Earth.

New rivers tend to meander at first and then, when surges of water come through, to find their way across the loops to a more direct route. The loops are cut off from the main river and it's entrances eventually silt up. The loop remains, filled with water but cut off from the river, as an oxbow lake. The Buffalo River has an oxbow lake, in West Seneca, although it isn't easily visible. The intersection at the top if French Road and Clinton Street. Image from Google Earth.

While looking around the world on Google Earth, here in an oxbow lake that I noticed in Brazil. Image from Google Earth.

Here is one south of Saskatoon. Image from Google Earth.

If the molecules of water in winding rivers were cosmologists they would see the new and shorter route that they had found as a wormhole, an unprecedented doorway through the earth. This is because they would be unable to see the flow of the river as being anything but a straight line. The truth would be that there was nothing at all unprecedented about the "wormhole" that they had found. The new shorter route would not be a "wormhole" at all, it would just be that they couldn't see that the river wasn't traveling in a straight line. The only definition of a straight line that they would have is the flow of the river.