A wormhole, also known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, is a hypothetical tunnel connecting remote points in spacetime. While wormholes are allowed by Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, wormholes have never been found in the universe. In late 2022, the journal Nature featured a paper co-written by Joe Lykken, leader of the Fermilab Quantum Institute, that describes observable phenomenon produced by a quantum processor that “are consistent with the dynamics of a transversable wormhole.” Working with a Sycamore quantum computer at Google, a team of physicists was able to transfer information from one area of the computer to another through a quantum system utilizing artificial intelligence hardware.

Lykken, a Fermilab distinguished scientist and former deputy director of research, earned his doctorate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has previously worked for the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics and the University of Chicago. He began his tenure at Fermilab in 1989. Lykken is a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Fermilab Quantum Institute leverages existing Fermilab expertise and infrastructure and partners with leading quantum information science researchers to pursue high-impact QIS research and development, while advancing high-energy physics applications.