Scientists have created a simulation within a quantum computer to act as a wormhole through space and time.
(via Newsweek)
Wormholes act as a portal through space and time for things to travel through the cosmos. At least, that’s what we believe in science fiction films.
Scientists are still in pursuit of a deeper understanding of wormholes and could have finally broken some ground. Reportedly, on Wednesday, researchers forged two very tiny, simulated wormholes through a quantum computer and were able to transmit encoded information between them.
Caltech physicist Maria Spiropulu said that it was a “baby wormhole” and that scientists are still far from being able to send objects or people through a portal. “Experimentally, for me, I will tell you that it’s very, very far away. People come to me and ask me ‘Can you put your dog in the wormhole?’ So, no.” Maria deems these findings as a “huge leap” in the right direction. The big challenge was that the program could only be adequately executed on a quantum computer.
Physicists still are unable to find any conditions in which a wormhole could actually be created, negative energy would have to be implemented somehow.
The scientists found that the simulated wormhole was able to flow information from one system to the other when the computer equivalent of negative energy was implemented. They also found that things didn’t work the same when positive energy was applied. The main reason the research even began was to shed light on a concept known as quantum gravity, which seeks to unify the theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics.
An artist's impression of a quantum experiment that simulated the behavior of a wormhole. (via CNN)
During the experiment, researchers placed a quantum bit of encoded information into one of the two systems and watched as the information came through to the other system. They believe that the quantum bit passed between simulated black holes through a wormhole.
Maria Spiropulu says, “We are excited to take this small step toward testing these ideas on quantum hardware and will keep going.” “The relationship between quantum entanglement, spacetime, and quantum gravity is one of the most important questions in fundamental physics and an active area of theoretical research.”
A Caltech researcher by the name of Samantha Davis said, “It took a really long time to arrive at the results, and we surprised ourselves with the outcome.”