Estimation of the energy state for a constant speed Warp Shell. The direction of movement is along +X. The Z cross section is aligned with the center of the bubble. The minimum value for all observers is shown. Positive (blue) and zero (white) are physical, and negative (red) disrupt. The units are inside [J/m3]. credit: arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2405.02709
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Estimation of the energy state for a constant speed Warp Shell. The direction of movement is along +X. The Z cross section is aligned with the center of the bubble. The minimum value for all observers is shown. Positive (blue) and zero (white) are physical, and negative (red) are disruptive. The units are inside [J/m3]. credit: arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2405.02709
A team of physicists from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the Advanced Propulsion Laboratory at Applied Physics in New York has developed a model that shows it may be possible to create a subluminal warp drive.
In their article published in Classical and quantum gravitythe group describes the physics behind their approach and why they believe it shows that warp drives may not need to be relegated to science fiction.
Warp drives, made famous by the TV series Star Trek, are imaginary engines that can propel vehicles through space at speeds that are currently impossible—perhaps even the speed of light.
Such speeds are achievable in the realm of science fiction, due to compressing the space in front of the spaceship, the ship passes through it and then expands the space behind it back to its natural state.
According to current theory, it would not be possible to construct warp drives in the real world. But current theories may have to change if the team’s work on this new effort is successful.
The work builds on work done by Miguel Alcubierre, who in 1994 published a paper that used physics to describe how warp drive might work—unfortunately, the paper included the need for negative energy, which may or may not exist .
In this new study, the team built a model that makes similar conclusions, but without the need for negative or other types of exotic energy.
The team combines both new and traditional gravity-based physics techniques to describe the creation of a deformed bubble around an object, allowing it to move at speeds far beyond those previously proposed – though not at or above the speed of light .
The researchers suggest that the engine behind the technology would involve combining a shell made of stable matter with a “displacement vector distribution” similar to that described by Alcubierre.
They also suggest that such an engine could allow speeds close to the speed of light. But they also note that building such an engine is still far beyond current technological capabilities, meaning that if such an engine can be built, it won’t happen for a very long time.
More info:
Jared Fuchs et al, A Solution for Constant Velocity Physical Deformation Drive, Classical and quantum gravity (2024). DOI: 10.1088/1361-6382/ad26aa. On arXiv: DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2405.02709
Log information:
arXiv
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