Could “warp drive” become a reality? What the new research suggests |

When science fiction fans hear the phrase “warp navigation,” the work that comes to mind might be “Star Trek.” The series began airing on television in 1966 and ran for more than 50 years. The Mycelium network is being used in the latest “Star Trek Discovery” production.(※1)This is a new attempt to link the series to navigation distortion, and it may captivate sci-fi fans who watch it.

*1: A network of threads formed in the soil by individual fungal roots. They communicate with other plants and form symbiotic relationships.

A research group led by Jared Fox, a researcher at the American Research Center for Applied Physics, appears to have created a new navigation engine (navigation). Mr. Fox holds a PhD in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Alabama, Huntsville, USA.

■A prototype warp drive based on negative-energy “exotic matter.”

The research result that formed the basis of Fox's research is the “Alcubierre drive” (also known as the Alcubierre drive), which was proposed by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994. The Alcubierre drive is similar to the method devised by the crew that created Star Trek, and warping appears to be possible due to a “bubble The warp drive theory is based on the theory of general relativity, where the spacetime in front of the spacecraft contracts and the spacetime behind it expands, allowing the spacecraft inside the warp bubble to move from its origin on Earth to where it is. He is said to have been pushed out(※2).

As Mr. Alcubierre himself points out, the problem with the Alcubierre drive is that “it is impossible to realize unless we assume matter of negative energy.” The existence of such “exotic” matter is said to be forbidden in the classical macrocosm.(※3).

*2…Alcubierre does not use the term “warp bubble” in his paper. Monsieur Alcubierre defined the metric, and if we assume that negative-energy matter exists, we can cause the above-mentioned distortion of space-time, and thus we can travel to distant stars in an arbitrarily small time, and he says it can be done. In this sense, spacecraft are sometimes described as being able to travel “faster than the speed of light.”

*3…In his paper, Alcubierre proposes the possibility of the existence of materials with negative energy density using quantum field theory. However, physicist Ethan Siegel, who continues to critically examine warp drive, says experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) showed that antimatter, which was a candidate for exotic matter, does not have negative gravity. Alcubierre is dead.

Related articles
・It has been confirmed that the gravity acting on “antimatter” is not “anti-gravity” The world's first direct measurement experiment (October 4, 2023)

■ The “physical envelope” is assumed to replace foreign matter

In contrast, the research group led by Fox and others appears to have devised a model that allows the realization of warp drive without assuming foreign materials. The research group claims that twisted bubbles could be created if there was a stable physical shell rather than a material with negative energy. To do this, we need a very dense material shell with an inner radius of 10 meters and an outer radius of 20 metres, but a mass of about 2.3 times the mass of Jupiter (about 4.7 x 10 to the 27 kg, apparently). He is.

However, this warp drive does not appear to be able to travel faster than the speed of light, but rather warp at a certain speed “comparable to the speed of light”. While this does not mean instantaneous interstellar travel, it travels at just below the speed of light, and the astronauts inside the ship are not subject to the acceleration of the launch vehicle while using the warp drive. There seems to be an advantage as well.

According to the research group, progress has been made in the theoretical potential of the warp drive in part because it has become possible to simulate it on computers. Due to the complexity of Einstein's equations, it may take a long time to find a solution to the torsion engine using analytical methods. It appears that the research group has succeeded in finding the numerical solution using the “Warp Factory” numerical analysis tool developed by the Applied Physics Company.

■Will this be the beginning of the Warp Age?

However, it seems unclear whether the new warp campaign proposed by the research group will become a reality or not. Christopher Helmreich, a member of the research group, also seems to recognize this problem: “A lot of energy is still needed.”

However, Gianni Martier, CEO of Applied Physics, said: “Although we are not yet ready for interstellar travel,[نتيجة البحث هذه]It should open up new possibilities.

source

• Space.com website A new study suggests that “warp drives” may one day be possible
• Business wire A new study achieves a breakthrough in warp drive design
• Fox, J. et al. – Solution to a constant speed physical warp drive
• Helmreich, C. et al. – Analysis of warp drive spacetimes using Warp Factory
• Alcubierre, M. – Warp Drive: Ultra-fast travel within general relativity
• White, HS – Warp field mechanics 101
• Big thought -I wrote the book about warp drive. No, we didn't accidentally create a warped bubble.
• Big thought -The Warp Drive's best hope dies, with the fall of antimatter
• jstor -Is warp drive in Star Trek possible?

Text/Misato Kadono Editing/Sorai Editorial Department