Wormholes linking stars theorized
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, March 4 (UPI) -- European physicists say some stars could contain wormholes, tunnel-like passages connecting distant points in space-time, a concept sparking much debate.
Physicist Vladimir Folomeev in the Kyrgyz Republic and his colleagues suggest pairs of stars could be joined by wormholes full of an exotic material known as "phantom matter," ScienceNews.org reported Friday.
Strictly hypothetical, phantom matter has been put forward as a possible explanation for the accelerating expansion of the universe, and its exotic properties -- if it even exists -- could also enable a wormhole to be kept propped open, Folomeev and his colleagues say.
They have come up with a preliminary mathematical model suggesting the possible existence of such a phenomenon but acknowledge their analysis isn't complete.
Other scientists aren't quite ready to buy the idea.
"It's a nice piece of speculative work, but it is speculation," says theoretical physicist Matt Visser of Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
"I am pretty sure that once you admit exotic matter of some suitable kind, you can mathematically construct a star with a wormhole inside," says relativity theorist Dieter Brill of the University of Maryland in College Park.
For now, this is just an idea that still must be refined by further calculations, Folomeev says.
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