Bubble universes and traversable wormholes

Abstract

Bubble universes and traversable wormholes in general relativity can be realized as two sides of the same concept. To exemplify, we find, display, and study in a unified manner a Minkowski-Minkowski closed universe and a Minkowski-Minkowski traversable wormhole. By joining two 3-dimensional flat balls along a thin shell two-sphere of matter, i.e., a spherical domain wall, into a single spacetime one gets a Minkowski-Minkowski static closed universe, i.e., a bubble universe. By joining two 3-dimensional complements of flat balls along a thin shell two-sphere of matter, i.e., a spherical throat, into a single spacetime one gets a Minkowski-Minkowski static open universe which is a traversable wormhole. Thus, Minkowski-Minkowski bubble universes and wormholes can be seen as complementary. It is also striking that these two spacetimes have resemblances with two well-known static universes. The Minkowski-Minkowski static closed universe resembles the Einstein universe, a static closed spherical universe homogeneously filled with dust matter and with a cosmological constant. The Minkowski-Minkowski static open universe resembles the Friedmann static universe, a static open hyperbolic universe homogeneously filled with negative energy density dust and with a negative cosmological, a universe with two disjoint branes that can be considered a failed wormhole. In this light, the Einstein and Friedmann universes are also two sides of the same concept. A linear stability analysis for all these spacetimes is performed. The complementarity between bubble universes and traversable wormholes, that exists for these static spacetimes, can be can carried out for dynamical spacetimes, indicating that such a complementarity is general. The study suggests that bubble universes and traversable wormholes can be seen as coming out of the same concept, and thus, if ones exist the others should also exist.