The underpinnings of Einstein’s general theory of relativity are his field equations which relate the geometry of spacetime to the distribution of matter. Along with quantum-mechanics, general relativity is a master contribution to science in early 20th century.
The Einstein Field Equations (EFE) have been studied and explored by many theoretical physicists and mathematicians. They have yielded a number of mind boggling concepts and solutions, among them black hole, gravitational wave and lensing. While some of the derived concepts have been observed/proven (black holes, big bang, spacetime curvature), some of the more exotic ones have remained in the realm of exotic solutions and mathematically fit, but physically unobserved. Among others, we can mention white holes and wormholes.
White hole is the opposite of a black hole, and is a hypothetical region of spacetime where matter, energy, light and information cannot enter from the outside, but it can come out of it (in a black hole, these elements can enter but none can come out). We will not delve on this matter for now, because we find it more interesting to discuss wormholes. Nevertheless, if you are interested, Wikipedia has a good coverage of it.
According to Wikipedia, «A wormhole is a hypothetical structure connecting disparate points in spacetime, and is based on a special solution of the Einstein field equations. A wormhole can be visualized as a tunnel with two ends at separate points in spacetime (i.e., different locations, different points in time, or both)». The concept of wormholes is consistent with the general theory of relativity, but mathematical consistency does not imply physical existence.
According to the theory, wormholes can connect two locations billions of light years apart or a few meters apart or even different points in time, not to mention different universes. Consequently, wormholes have been used consistently in science fiction to provide a seemingly realistic method to travel faster than the speed of light, or to do time travel.
But why are we discussing wormholes? We are addressing wormholes because the concept and its treatment is fully consistent with Pataphysics:
As we have described in an earlier post, Pataphysics can be defined as the science of imaginary solutions. Furthermore, according to Christian Bök, it is the science of the particular, in the sense that it does not study the rules governing the general recurrence of a periodic incident, so much as study the games governing the special occurrence of a sporadic accident
When we compare the wormhole concept to the text above, we clearly see that wormhole is an imaginary solution, consistent with mathematics. In addition, the concept comes out of the special solution to Einstein’s Field Equations, thus a particular case, and not a general case of general relativity.
In conclusion, we have shown that real science can be used to prove the existence of fictional science just as the virtual or imaginary nature of a phenomenon, if detailed through the heightened vision of poetry or science or love, can be lived as real.
April 21, 2023, Cambridge,
Berta Seintan, PhD & Charlene Wardin, PhD