New research suggests 'warp drive' could one day become a reality
Experiments conducted by CERN have shown that
Constant velocity physical warp drive solution - IOPscience
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/ad26aa
[2405.02709] Constant Velocity Physical Warp Drive Solution
'Warp drives' may actually be possible someday, new study suggests | Space
https://www.space.com/warp-drive-possibilities-positive-energy
Warp speed possible! Scientists discover loophole making faster-than-light travel achievable -
https://studyfinds.org/warp-speed-possible-loophole/
The research was carried out by a team organized by Jared Fuchs of the University of Alabama in the United States and the research think tank Applied Physics.
One idea for realizing warp drive is the 'Alcubierre Drive' proposed by physicist Miguel Alcubierre .
In Einstein's general theory of relativity, the effect of gravity is seen as a 'distortion of space-time .' If we could simultaneously create a 'positive distortion' using matter and energy while simultaneously creating a 'negative distortion' using negative matter and energy, the idea behind the Alcubierre Drive is that the space in front of the spaceship would be compressed while the space behind it would be thinned, allowing a spaceship wrapped in a 'warp bubble' to travel within the compressed space . If this Alcubierre Drive were to be realized, it would be possible to travel at speeds faster than the speed of light.
However, the problem is that in order to create the negative distortion, we need exotic matter with negative energy. Just as there is a positive energy called vacuum energy in a vacuum, there is no negative energy that exists in the known laws of physics to realize a warp drive.
So Fuchs and his team put the Alcubierre Drive aside for a moment and reconsidered, 'What kind of space-time geometry can allow travel faster than the speed of light while obeying the known laws of physics?' They concluded that it would be possible to create a warp bubble using a 'shell made of ordinary material.'
The difference with the Alcubierre Drive is that the 'shell' has a positive energy density and does not require negative energy density from exotic matter or the like.
The warp drive proposed by Fuchs and his colleagues has been mathematically shown to satisfy all of the known energy conditions of general relativity.
However, this 'shell' is far beyond the capabilities of modern human technology, and the mass required to achieve warp speed would be greater than that of the Sun. In addition, research has only investigated cases of warp drives that operate at speeds slower than the speed of light, and it has been pointed out that there are still unsolved problems to be solved before we can accelerate to the speed of light or faster.
Fuchs said the research 'is a potential stepping stone on the long road to efficient interstellar travel.'
'While we're not yet ready for interstellar travel, this research heralds a new era of possibility,' said Gianni Martire, CEO of Applied Physics. 'We're making steady progress as humanity embarks on the Warp Age.'
In addition, as a warp drive that does not use exotic materials, Eric W. Lentz presented an approach using ' solitons ' in 2021.
[2201.00652] Hyper-Fast Positive Energy Warp Drives
https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.00652
Related Posts:
in Science, Posted by logc_nt