Simulated collisions between binary Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes reveal that interacting throats can form a common apparent horizon that shrinks by roughly 28 percent, defying standard black hole physics by utilizing phantom scalar fields with negative-energy properties.
The fabric of the cosmos is constantly rippling with gravitational waves, sending outward signals that observatories log in triple digits. Most of those detections trace back to collisions between dense black holes. But a new preprint study asks what might happen if other exotic spacetime structures crossed paths. Even though wormholes continue to be theoretical concepts derived from Albert Einstein’s general relativity, investigating their computer-generated crashes aids researchers in grasping how unusual spacetime mechanics might show up in astrophysical signals.
Simulation Results for Binary Ellis-Bronnikov Wormholes
Nikita M. Shirokov of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and machine learning engineer Ilya Nachevsky of the Higher School of Economics ran three-dimensional simulations to test how binary wormholes interact. Real scientific theory treats wormholes as tunnels or throats connecting otherwise distant regions of spacetime. This field possesses unusual negative-energy properties designed to prevent the throat from pinching shut.
That balance remains exceptionally fragile.
- Wormholes could attract or repel one another depending on their configuration.
- Some pairs engaged in close flybys, causing their throats to expand dramatically before separating.
- Direct plunges did not form a single larger wormhole, instead enclosing both throats within a common apparent horizon.
In scenarios where the wormholes plunged directly toward each other, the system exhibited behavior that violates standard black hole mechanics as the phantom scalar field fell into the collapsing region of space.
Shrinking Horizons and Stephen Hawking’s Area Theorem
When the common apparent horizon enclosed the plunging wormhole throats, the system displayed behavior that runs counter to conventional black hole mechanics. As the collapsing area of space received the incoming negative-energy phantom scalar field, the horizon lost roughly 28 percent of its area.
Under ordinary circumstances, Stephen Hawking’s 1971 black hole area theorem dictates that the surface area of an event horizon can only increase or remain stable.
Gravitational Wave Signatures and Detection Challenges
As massive objects like black holes spiral inward, they emit spacetime ripples characterized by a distinct chirp that climbs in frequency. By contrast, the simulated wormhole encounters produced short, sharp bursts of gravitational waves, with the strength and shape of these bursts depending on how closely the wormholes approached each other.
Detecting these distinct signatures in real instruments presents steep hurdles. Black holes can also generate short bursts under specific conditions, and while unusual events such as GW190521 detected in 2019 have been investigated as possible signatures of exotic spacetime physics, that signal does not establish a proven connection to wormholes. Scientists point out that early Universe wormholes would generate emissions elongated by the expansion of the cosmos until their frequencies dropped below the threshold of detection for facilities like LIGO or the upcoming LISA project. In order for present-day or near-future detectors to capture these waves, the wormholes would have to originate much later in cosmic time via a pathway that researchers have not yet identified.
Related reading