The Image of a Wormhole

A wormhole is a hypothetical tunnel through space. Such a concept has long been a favorite theme in Star Trek and in science fiction. An extensive list of popular science books[1] are devoted to topics related to wormholes. We might gauge the popularity of wormholes among students by the recurring references to them in The Simpsons : in one Halloween special[2], Homer was sucked into modern-day California while saying “there’s so much I don’t know about astrophysics, I wish I’d read that book by [Dr. Hawking].” The detailed calculations about a wormhole are complex and still under debate among physicists, but with the techniques taught in a standard calculus course[3], a student is capable of producing the images of wormholes based on sound physical principles. Because many issues concerning wormholes are not fully resolved yet, this paper is not meant to be rigorous. We merely attempt to motivate students to apply mathematical skills that they have learned in calculus, and to induce their interest in non-Euclidean geometry and general relativity through this fascinating subject.