Physicists have shown that traversable 'shortcuts' through space-time could exist without needing the impossible forms of energy previously thought necessary.
April 1, 2026
Original Paper
The scalar--Maxwell--$Λ(x)$ system: Wormhole spacetimes without nonlinear electrodynamics in unimodular gravity
arXiv · 2603.30003
The Takeaway
In standard Einsteinian physics, keeping a wormhole open requires 'exotic matter' with negative energy, which likely doesn't exist. This study demonstrates that a slightly different, simplified model of gravity allows these cosmic tunnels to be supported by ordinary matter and light, making them theoretically much easier to create.
From the abstract
In General Relativity, constructing exact traversable wormholes coupled to electromagnetic fields typically requires complex Non-Linear Electrodynamics (NED). We demonstrate that Unimodular Gravity (UG) elegantly resolves this limitation. By relaxing energy-momentum conservation, UG introduces a dynamical cosmological term, $\Lambda(x)$, enabling a semi-classical energy exchange between matter and the vacuum. Exploiting this mechanism, we construct exact Scalar-Maxwell-$\Lambda(x)$ wormholes. We