Objects We Thought Were Black Holes May Actually Be Wormholes, Scientists Say

According to New Scientist, a team of physicists from Sofia University in Bulgaria believes that wormholes, which are hypothetical tunnels connecting one part of the universe to another, may be hiding in plain sight — in the form of black holes. Scientists have long been perplexed by black holes, which gobble up matter and never let it escape. But where does all of this matter go? Physicists have long toyed with the idea that these black holes could be leading to "white holes," or wells that spew out streams of particles and radiation. These two ends could together form a wormhole, or an Einstein-Rosen bridge to be specific, which some physicists believe could stretch any amount of time and space, a tantalizing theory that could rewrite the laws of spacetime as we understand them today. Now, the researchers suggest that the "throat" of a wormhole could look very similar to previously discovered black holes, like the monster Sagittarius A* which is believed to be lurking at the center of our galaxy. "Ten years ago, wormholes were completely in the area of science fiction," team lead Petya Nedkova at Sofia University told New Scientist. "Now, they are coming forward to the frontiers of science and people are actively searching." The team's newly developed computer model, as detailed in a new paper published in the journal Physical Review D, suggests the radiation emanating from the discs of matter swirling around the edges of wormholes may be near impossible to distinguish from those surrounding a black hole.