Calculations reveal how vacuum fluctuations impact the geometry of a timelike topological wormhole supported by an anisotropic fluid. Haris Mehulic and Tomislav Prokopec at Utrecht University used techniques of dimensional regularisation and semiclassical gravity to show that these quantum backreactions can either destabilise or stabilise the wormhole, depending on the chosen gravitational counterterms. The results keyly demonstrate that classical traversability persists even when quantum effects are considered. This provides insight into the interplay between quantum field theory and general relativity and represents a sharp step towards understanding the viability of wormholes as potential structures within the universe.
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