Wormholes, spacewarps, timewarps and time machines have permeated popular culture. This technical monograph looks at the science behind the science fiction, covering the history and theories of wormholes, spacewarps, and time travel.

From H.G. Wells to Star Trek, audiences have been captivated by the notions of time travel, time warps, space warps, and wornholes. But science fiction is not the only realm where these concepts thrive. An active group of general relativists and quantum field theorists has produced a considerable body of serious (thought admittedly speculative) mathematical and physical analyses of the wormhole system. Now, with this fascinating book, readers can explore in depth the science behind the science fiction. Drawing on pivotal work by Einstein, Wheeler, Morris, Thorne, Hawking, and others, Matt Visser charts the development and current state of Lorentzian wormhole physics. Dr. Visser shows that by pushing established physical theories to their limits, it is possible to deduce the physical properties of such exotica as wormholes and time travel. The physical framework he uses is derived from one of the major research frontiers of modern theoretical physics: quantum gravity-the intersection of classical Einstein gravity and quantum field theory. Physicists, students of general relativity, cosmology, quantum physics, or any interested reader with a background in physics wil find this a provocative introduction to an exciting and active topic of ongoing research.