Questions tagged [warp-drives]
warp drives are generic conceptual space travel mechanisms that try to work around physical limits in the speed of propagation of light imposed by special relativity. Usually they resort to speculative science (exotic matter), or phenomena that are not yet well understood or is hard to make validation experiments (non-eternal rotating black holes)
142
questions
1
vote
2
answers
284
views
What exactly is the motion in Warp drive?
I know that there exists something like the Alcubierre warp bubble, and there are many threads here about it, but unfortunately the answers didn't help me to understand what the basic principle is...
...
-1
votes
4
answers
588
views
Does this research paper prove that warp drives are impossible? [closed]
Does this preprint prove that warp drives are impossible?
J. Santiago, S. Schuster and M. Visser, "Generic warp drives violate the null energy condition"
It states that the NEC (Null Energy ...
0
votes
1
answer
43
views
Energy distorting space
We know that mass distort space and time. Can energy do the same? How much heat will it take to create an observable effect? can we make a warp drive on that principle? By heating one end of a space ...
0
votes
0
answers
50
views
Warp drive small scale experiments "proof of concept" [duplicate]
Possible small scale warp drive experiments, or small scale experiments with quantum mechanics to model space-time warping? Why is it so difficult to engineer a small scale warp drive even though ...
9
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Erik Lentz's faster-than-light soliton
It's well known that, in relativity, if you can go faster than light, you can go backwards in time and create a paradox.
Also, attempts to create "warp-drive" space-times in which something ...
6
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Analogy for Lentz soliton
Analogy for Alcubeirre Warp Drive:
Every explanation of warp drive in layman terms has this sentence in it:
"The Warp Drive will contract space in thier front and expand space behind."
(I ...
2
votes
0
answers
131
views
Testing space-time warp on a smaller scale, "Breaking the Warp Barrier: Hyper-Fast Solitons in Einstein-Maxwell-Plasma Theory" [duplicate]
So according to this paper it creates a warp drive without the need of negative energy to operate which many think does not exist in reality.
So my question is what would you do to experimentally ...
3
votes
1
answer
63
views
The center of energy of a closed system maintains constant velocity in the vacuum of space. How can a warp drive overcome this rule?
In the following paper Introducing Physical Warp Drives by Alexey Bobrick, Gianni Martire
they state
5.2. Constructing warp drives: Warp drives, being inertially moving shells of normal or exotic ...
1
vote
1
answer
224
views
Will an Alcubierre Drive arrive before a beam of light, if sent between two stationary observers?
First, I'm not a physicist, just an engineer, and my first language is not English, so forgive any strange wording.
I have a simple thought experiment about Alcubierre Drives: Imagine two stationary ...
2
votes
2
answers
76
views
Compressing the Earth to a 20-meter-wide sphere would only subtract one hour of time? (General relativity)
The Internet has exploded with news that the Applied Physics Institute of New York published a paper claiming that superluminal speeds can be achieved using a type of Alcubierre Drive, but without the ...
1
vote
0
answers
215
views
Could LIGO detect an Alcubierre drive being used within 10 light-years of the Solar system? [closed]
Maybe this question is too speculative... But is it possible that LIGO would detect the ramp-up and ramp-down of an Alcubierre drive being used within 10 light-years of the Solar system? Also, if the ...
4
votes
1
answer
300
views
Warp drive causality issue, and a possible error in a paper?
Take a look at this paper on "Warp Drives and Causality:" https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.53.7365
The author attempts to argue that the Alcubierre Drive spacetime could exhibit Closed ...
0
votes
1
answer
84
views
In an Alcuibierre like warp drive, what is the velocity of the object after the warp trip?
Presume a ship is traveling in an Alcubierre-like warp bubble. For concreteness, let us say that it began in a geostationary orbit (that term is used to indicate that the ship is in fact orbiting ...
2
votes
1
answer
59
views
Late time behaviour of the Alcubierrie warp drive metric
The Alcubeierrie Warp Drive metric looks like $$ds^2 = -dt^2+(dx-Xdt)^2+dy^2+dz^2$$ where $X = v_s(t)f(r_s)$ and $r_s = [(x-x_s(t))^2+y^2+z^2]^{1/2}$. Now, $f(r_s) \approx 1 \quad 0 < r < R$ ...
3
votes
1
answer
127
views
Geodesics in an Alcubierrie Warp Drive metric
The geodesics in an Alcubierrie Warp Drive metric are given by
$$\dot{t} = 1 \quad \dot{x} = X\dot{t} \quad y, z = \text{constant}$$ where $X = \dot{x}_s(t) f(r_s)$. Here $f(r_s)$ is a shape function ...