One of the most stubborn problems in physics today is the fact that our two

best theories to explain the Universe general relativity and quantum

mechanics function perfectly well on their own, but as soon as you try to
combine them, the maths just doesnt work out.
But a Stanford theoretical physicist has just come up with a new
equation that suggests the key to finally connecting the two could be found
in bizarre spacetime tunnels called wormholes.
The equation is deceptively simple: ER = EPR.
Its not made up of numerical values, but instead represents the names of
some key players in theoretical physics.
On the left side of the equation, the ER stands for Einstein and Nathan
Rosen,and refers to a 1935 paper they wrote together describing
wormholes, known technically as Einstein-Rosen bridges.
On the right side of the equation, EPR stands for Einstein, Rosen and Boris
Podolsky, who co-wrote another paper that year describing quantum
entanglement.
Back in 2013, physicist Leonard Susskind from Stanford University and
Juan Maldacena from the Institute for Advance Study at Princeton
suggested that the two papers could be describing pretty much the same
thing something that no one else in the field had previously considered,
including Einstein himself.
Now Susskind is back to discuss the implications if hes in fact right.

But first, lets look at the individual parts of this equation.

First implied by Einsteins theory of general relativity, wormholes are like
tunnels between two places in the Universe.
In theory, if you fell in one side of a wormhole, youd appear on the other
side almost instantaneously, even if it happened to be on the exact opposite
side of the Universe.
But wormholes arent just portals to another place in the Universe, theyre
portals between twotimes in the Universe. Like Carl Sagan once said, You
might emerge somewhere else in space, some when-else in time.
Quantum entanglement, on the other hand, describes the way that two
particles can interact in such a way that they become inexorably linked, and
essentially share an existence.
This means that whatever happens to one particle will directly and
instantaneously affect the other even if its light-years away.
Okay, now lets combine the two.
In his new paper, Susskind proposes a scenario where hypothetical Alice
and Bob each take a bunch of entangled particles Alice takes one
member of each pair, and Bob takes the other, and they fly off in opposite
directions of the Universe in their hypothetical hypersonic jets.
Once in their separate positions, Alice and Bob smash their particles
together with such great force, they create two separate black holes.

The result, says Susskind, is two entangled black holes on opposite sides
of the Universe, linked in the middle by a giant wormhole.
If ER = EPR is right, a wormhole will link those black holes; entanglement,
therefore, can be described using the geometry of wormholes, says Tom
Siegfried over at Science News.
Even more remarkable is the possibility that two entangled subatomic
particles alone are themselves somehow connected by a sort of quantum
wormhole, Siegfried adds.
Since wormholes are contortions of spacetime geometry described by
Einsteins gravitational equations identifying them with quantum
entanglement would forge a link between gravity and quantum mechanics.
Is Susskind right? Its impossible to say just yet, because while hes
published his paper on pre-press website arXiv.org to be openly scrutinised
by his peers, its yet to go through the formal peer-review process.
But, as Siegfried reports, Susskind isnt the only one going down this
path. Earlier this year, a team of Caltech physicists came up with a similar
hypothesis when they attempted to show how changes in quantum states
can be linked to curves in spacetime geometry.
In a blog post describing the hypothesis, one of the team, Sean M. Carroll,
says the most natural relationship between energy and spacetime curvature
in this scenario is given by Einsteins equation for general relativity.
The claim, in its most dramatic-sounding form, is that gravity (spacetime
curvature caused by energy/momentum) isnt hard to obtain in quantum

mechanics its automatic! Or at least, the most natural thing to expect, he

says.
Well have to wait and see if ER = EPR or something closely related bears
out, but its certainly food for thought, and Susskind for one thinks hes on
to something here.
To me it seems obvious that if ER = EPR is true, it is a very big deal, and it
must affect the foundations and interpretation of quantum mechanics, he
writes, adding that if hes right, quantum mechanics and gravity are far
more tightly related than we (or at least I) had ever imagined.