Wormholes have been mathematically predicted, even in Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, but for many years, these space-time bridges have always remained speculative. According to Space.com, wormholes were first theorised in 1916, though that wasn't what they were called at the time. While reviewing another physicist's solution to the equations in Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, Austrian physicist Ludwig Flamm realised another solution was possible. He described a "white hole," a theoretical time reversal of a black hole. Entrances to both black and white holes could be connected by a space-time conduit.
According to a ScienceAlert report, if a new model proposed by a small team of physicists from Sofia University in Bulgaria is accurate, there could still be a way to tell them apart. The research that was published in Physical Review D said that researchers predict that wormholes could be hiding in plain sight. Simulating the polarised light emissions from wormholes and black holes, Petya Nedkova and colleagues from Sofia University, Bulgaria, predict that there may be only slight differences in the spectra of the polarised light emanating from a traversable wormhole and from a black hole.
Nedkova and colleagues studied a hypothetical, static, traversable wormhole - one that doesn't evolve or rotate. They simulated the light emitted directly by the disc surrounding this wormhole, analysing its polarisation. The researchers then created an image of this polarised light. They also created indirect images of the wormhole using polarized light lensed by the object.
Comparing the direct wormhole image to one showing the polarised light emitted by the disc surrounding a static black hole, the team found that the images were nearly identical, with the polarisation intensity and direction differing by less than four per cent.
