Dark matter may have created a wormhole INSIDE the Milky Way

Wormholes are some of the universe’s strangest and most mind–boggling structures.

Now, scientists say one of these tunnels through space and time could be lurking in our own galaxy.

Just like a black hole, a wormhole is a structure where gravity is so strong that it bends the structure of spacetime itself.

The difference is that a wormhole bends spacetime to connect two different points, punching a hole directly through the surface of the universe.

These points could be light–years apart or even separated in time, but passing through the wormhole would let you travel between them in seconds, just like in the sci–fi film Interstellar. 

Even though they are physically possible, scientists think any real wormhole would almost instantly collapse in on itself.

However, a group of physicists now claims that the mysterious substance known as dark matter could create wormholes – and even keep them open long enough to pass through.

If they are right, this means there could be a massive tunnel to another part of the universe hidden in plain sight at the core of the Milky Way.

Scientists say that dark matter may have formed a wormhole in the centre of the Milky Way, connecting our galaxy to a distant part of the universe (artist’s impression)

What is a wormhole?

Co–author Dr Saibal Ray, an astrophysicist from GLA University in India, says that you can think of a wormhole like a ‘type of tunnel’.

‘A wormhole is nothing but a passage from one point to another,’ says Dr Ray.

‘It’s like a tunnel between two manhole covers; one acts as the entry point and the other as an exit point.’

Wormholes have two mouths connected by a tunnel known as a throat, which could theoretically span the entire length of the universe.

One mouth would be a black hole where matter and light are pulled in by gravity, and the other would be a so–called ‘white hole’ where everything would emerge.

Scientists call a wormhole ‘traversable’ if that throat is wide and stable enough for an object to pass through.

In theory, anything that fell in at one side would appear almost instantaneously at the other side.

Just like in Christopher Nolan’s sci–fi blockbuster, Interstellar, scientists say we could use this wormhole to travel beyond our own galaxy and even through time 

Could there be a wormhole in the Milky Way?

Although these structures sound bizarre, they are able to exist because, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, space and time aren’t a flat, even surface.

Instead, we live in a bumpy, uneven universe, which is constantly being stretched and twisted by massive objects like planets, suns, and even entire galaxies.

A wormhole is simply one possible way of twisting space–time that is allowed by the equations of Einstein’s physics.

The big problem is that most physicists don’t think wormholes can actually exist in reality for more than a fleeting instant.

Professor Dejan Stojkovic, a cosmologist from the University at Buffalo who was not involved in the study, told the Daily Mail: ‘Wormholes are generally unstable.

‘To provide stability, one has to counter the attractive force of gravity and prevent the collapse of the wormhole walls.

‘For that, we either need large amounts of negative energy, or some equivalent setup which would provide a repulsive force to stabilise the wormhole.’

Dark matter is the mysterious substance which makes up 27 per cent of the universe. Although it can’t be detected, scientists have studied its effect on the distribution of galaxies in the ‘cosmic web’ (pictured)

Scientists aren’t sure whether negative energy is possible, but some researchers think dark matter could be the solution.

Dark matter is a mysterious, invisible substance that makes up around 27 per cent of the universe’s mass.

Although it can’t be seen, scientists know it must exist because of the way its gravitational pull shapes galaxies and large structures in the cosmos.

Even in the Milky Way, astronomers think that there is a ‘dark matter halo’ of invisible material stretching out up to one million light–years from the galactic core.

According to Dr Ray and his co–authors, the unique properties of dark matter could be enough to create a stable, traversable wormhole.

Dr Ray says: ‘Dark matter is hypothesised to lead to wormhole formation because its unique density and gravitational collapse in extreme environments can alter spacetime topology.’

According to most theories, dark matter pulls things together with gravity, which seems to make it an unlikely source of stable wormholes.

However, certain ‘exotic’ theories about the nature of dark matter suggest it might have properties that would force the throat of a wormhole open.

Our own galaxy has a so–called ‘dark matter halo’, which scientists think could form and hold open the ‘throat’ of a wormhole. Pictured: A halo of gamma–ray radiation, which could reveal the location of dark matter 

‘While standard dark matter holds galaxies together, specific models suggest its “condensate properties” can trigger the structural, traversable “throat” of a wormhole during collapse,’ says Dr Ray.

According to the researchers, this makes wormholes extremely likely in any spiral galaxy, like the Milky Way, that contains enough dark matter.

Dr Ray adds: ‘We have theoretically shown that in the case of the Milky Way galaxy, in the central part as well as at the edge, a wormhole does exist.’

Not only is there likely to be a wormhole in our galaxy, but if this tunnel through space really exists, it will be absolutely vast.

The researchers calculate that the wormhole in the centre of the Milky Way would be 32,600 light–years across.

Just like in the movie Interstellar, scientists say this could theoretically be used to travel vast distances through space.

Professor Stojkovic says: ‘If the wormhole’s throat is large enough to fit a human, or a spaceship, then we can use the shortcut that the wormhole provides.’

How likely is it that this theory is correct?

Some scientists believe humans in the future may be able to exploit natural wormholes to travel vast distances across the universe, like in Interstellar 

Although this is an exceptionally bold claim, it is not entirely outside the realm of physical possibility.

Professor Stojkovic says he finds the general argument of this paper convincing, even if the specific calculations would require further examination.

‘The Hernquist dark matter profile that the authors use can violate energy conditions, specifically the Null Energy Condition (NEC),’ says Professor Stojkovic.

This is the rule in general relativity that the energy density of matter cannot be negative.

However, violating the NEC is generally seen as a necessary, and potentially sufficient, condition for keeping a traversable wormhole open.

In this way, the galaxy’s abundant dark matter would provide the so–called ‘exotic matter’ needed to prevent the wormhole throat from collapsing.

‘Nature, whose building power is much superior to human one, always finds a way to build something which is described by solutions of legitimate theories like General Relativity,’ says Professor Stojkovic.

‘So, Nature–made wormholes may already exist, and we may take advantage of them someday.’

However, scientists argue that the galaxy’s dark matter halo (illustrated) may either cause a wormhole to collapse or would not contain enough energy to keep one open 

However, not everyone is convinced by Dr Ray’s wormhole theories.

Dr Andreea Font, an astrophysicist and expert on the formation of the Milky Way from Liverpool John Moores University, says: ‘There is no evidence that dark matter can act as exotic matter.’

Dr Font describes theories that suggest dark matter does anything other than attract matter with gravity as ‘well outside established physics.’

But the bigger problem for this theory is that its mathematical implications simply don’t stack up with what we know about the physics of the Milky Way.

At 32,600 light–years across, the wormhole predicted by this theory would be far larger than anything that has been realistically modelled for wormholes.

Dr Font says: ‘A quick calculation shows that a wormhole of this size would require 100,000 more mass–energy than the entire galaxy, and crucially, in the form of negative energy.

‘Put in another way: to keep open a wormhole of the size of the Galactic core, it would require the energy of a cluster of thousands of galaxies, made of exotic matter.’

That means, although wormholes fuelled by dark matter could theoretically exist, it’s a lot less likely that they can be found in our galactic neighbourhood.

EINSTEIN’S GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

Albert Einstein

In 1905, Albert Einstein determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers – known as the theory of special relativity.

This groundbreaking work introduced a new framework for all of physics, and proposed new concepts of space and time.

He then spent 10 years trying to include acceleration in the theory, finally publishing his theory of general relativity in 1915.

This determined that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity.

At its simplest, it can be thought of as a giant rubber sheet with a bowling ball in the centre.

Pictured is the original historical documents related to Einstein’s prediction of the existence of gravitational waves, shown at the Hebrew university in Jerusalem

As the ball warps the sheet, a planet bends the fabric of space-time, creating the force that we feel as gravity.

Any object that comes near to the body falls towards it because of the effect.

Einstein predicted that if two massive bodies came together it would create such a huge ripple in space time that it should be detectable on Earth.

It was most recently demonstrated in the hit film film Interstellar.

In a segment that saw the crew visit a planet which fell within the gravitational grasp of a huge black hole, the event caused time to slow down massively.

Crew members on the planet barely aged while those on the ship were decades older on their return.