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n2doc

(47,953 posts)
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 09:12 PM Aug 2015

Magnetic Wormhole Created in Lab

Ripped from the pages of a sci-fi novel, physicists have crafted a wormhole that tunnels a magnetic field through space.

"This device can transmit the magnetic field from one point in space to another point, through a path that is magnetically invisible," said study co-author Jordi Prat-Camps, a doctoral candidate in physics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain. "From a magnetic point of view, this device acts like a wormhole, as if the magnetic field was transferred through an extra special dimension."

The idea of a wormhole comes from Albert Einstein's theories. In 1935, Einstein and colleague Nathan Rosen realized that the general theory of relativity allowed for the existence of bridges that could link two different points in space-time. Theoretically these Einstein-Rosen bridges, or wormholes, could allow something to tunnel instantly between great distances (though the tunnels in this theory are extremely tiny, so ordinarily wouldn't fit a space traveler). So far, no one has found evidence that space-time wormholes actually exist.

The new wormhole isn't a space-time wormhole per se, but is instead a realization of a futuristic "invisibility cloak" first proposed in 2007 in the journal Physical Review Letters. This type of wormhole would hide electromagnetic waves from view from the outside. The trouble was, to make the method work for light required materials that are extremely impractical and difficult to work with, Prat said.

more
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/magnetic-wormhole-created-in-lab/

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Magnetic Wormhole Created in Lab (Original Post) n2doc Aug 2015 OP
Well, that is extra special, but I think "spatial" was intended. nt eppur_se_muova Aug 2015 #1
Are these the same scientists that planned to blow up the moon?... n/t PoliticAverse Aug 2015 #2
So this is an interesting concept, in that the metamaterial has a negative refractive mindwalker_i Aug 2015 #3
Fascinating! Bonobo Aug 2015 #4

mindwalker_i

(4,407 posts)
3. So this is an interesting concept, in that the metamaterial has a negative refractive
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 11:22 PM
Aug 2015

index. I wonder whether there are parallels between that and having negative mass, which would allow spacetime to be warped into a (spatial) wormhole.

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