Years ago there was some hype around a theory that would supposedly allow for FTL. But I have since heard nothing of this.
Is anything happening with the theory? How would a magnetic field allow us alter spacial dimensions?
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$\begingroup$ This is a crackpot theory, not real physics. $\endgroup$– Matt ReeceCommented Nov 16, 2010 at 18:17
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$\begingroup$ And it seems nobody really cares even about crushing it, so the answer is "nothing". $\endgroup$– user68Commented Nov 16, 2010 at 19:24
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1$\begingroup$ The downvote was unnecessary. This was a real question asking if a theory had any merit behind it. Are you really such an ass that you have to down vote something that asks if it's a valid theory because it's not valid, instead of answering that it's not valid, on a site dedicated to questions about physics? Wtf? $\endgroup$– IncognitoCommented Nov 17, 2010 at 2:02
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1$\begingroup$ I'm not sure I understand the rules of this site for when questions should be downvoted, so probably I shouldn't have. I tried to nullify my downvote but the site says my vote is locked in and won't let me change it. $\endgroup$– Matt ReeceCommented Nov 17, 2010 at 4:33
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1$\begingroup$ That said, you didn't ask if the theory makes sense, but if anything is happening with it. So I thought you were presuming some amount of merit. And there are very aggressive proponents of this theory on the web -- I know someone who spent a lot of time fighting to keep the Wikipedia page on this from making extravagant claims a few years ago. (It shouldn't even have a Wikipedia page; it's just a big pile of crazy.) $\endgroup$– Matt ReeceCommented Nov 17, 2010 at 4:34
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As far as I know, you can not alter space-time curvature with any realistic amount of magnetic field(you'd need a planck energy per planck length to rip the fabric, which is equivalent to a black hole anyway).
As for FTL, it brings up so many problems that it should not really exist in a universe obeying "casuality".
About Heim Theory,
Some scientists are so concerned with addressing some specific problems in physics that their resultant theory is in contrary with even every-day phenomena like F=ma or x=vt. They, of course, do not do this just to mess around, it is done to lead some other theories to a reasonable final theory. However, as far as I know, it was not Heim himself that tried to apply FTL travel to Heim theory, it was some other physicist who found a way to implement Heim theory in a way for it to allow FTL travel.
As a result,
-Heim theory is not really considered a valuable candidate for replacement of GR&QM. -The fact that it proposes FTL does not really mean much for us since it is so lackluster in so many aspects that you can't really trust it. -A stronger magnetic field would not really allow for much alteration in any spatial dimension. It would just tear you apart because of diamagnetism of water and strip the info out of your credit cards at a longer distance. Incredibly strong magnetic fields exist near magnetars and FTL phenomena would have been observed near magnetars if there were such a condition.
