#Superluminal space drive license

The objects may each be at rest in their local space-time, but nevertheless the distance between them may grow at a rate that is much greater than the speed of light. As the universe expands, new space is created between any two separated objects. However, by transiting the wormhole the object has traveled five light years in a few minutes, producing an effective speed of a million times the velocity of light.Р”Р„nother example of a faster than light phenomenon is the expansion of the universe itself. An object might take a few minutes to move with at low speed through the neck of a wormhole, observing the local speed-limit laws all the way. One example of this is a wormhole (see my AV columns,Р”Р„nalog 6/89 and 5/90) connecting two widely separated locations in space, say five light-years apart. In other words, light speed is the local speed limit, but the broader context of general relativity may provide ways of circumventing this local statute. General relativity does not forbid faster-than-light travel or communication, but it does require that the local restrictions of special relativity must apply. General relativity treats special relativity as a restricted sub-theory that applies locally to any region of space that is sufficiently small that its curvature can be neglected. How does Alcubierre's metric manage to move an object faster than the speed of light? Isn't that in direct contradiction to Einstein's special theory of relativity? Actually, no. Effectively, the warp bubble is driven forward by creating and annihilating space as if a local Big Bang were occurring at the rear of the space ship while a local Big Crunch was occurring in front of it. This was accomplished by placing the volume of flat space inside a 'bubble' of highly curved space, then destroying space in front of the bubble while creating new space behind it. Without worrying about how it might be formed, he constructed a metric that could transport volume of flat space, perhaps containing a spaceship, at superluminal speed. When theoretical physicist use general relativity, their normal procedure is to start with some distribution of massive objects and to calculate the metric describing space-time curvature that such a distribution would produce. Science fiction's warp drive had been given a consistent theoretical and mathematical basis. Surprisingly, Alcubierre's warp-drive metric is a solution of Einstein's equations of general relativity and is completely consistent with them. Alcubierre constructed a 'metric', a mathematical specification of the curvature of space-time that had all the characteristics of a SF warp-drive including the capability for faster-than-light travel. Also a fan of SF, he was steeped in the SF tradition and turned his physics expertise to the task of considering how a warp drive might be constructed within the restrictions of general relativity, our present 'standard model' of gravity. Alcubierre is a theoretical physicist from Mexico who in 1994 was working at the University of Wales and is now at the Albert Einstein Institute in Potsdam, Germany. Miguel Alcubierre published a paper entitled 'The Warp Drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity' in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity. The status of the warp drive changed dramatically in 1994, when Dr.

#Superluminal space drive license

It was tolerated as an excessive but perhaps necessary use of literary license by SF authors.

Those familiar with the laws of physics saw the warp drive as a flagrant violation of the principles of special relativity, conservation of energy, and physics-as-we-know-it. Until 1994 a 'warp drive' was one of the myths of science fiction, a rubber-science concept used principally to permit space-opera heroes to flit from one star system to another at faster-than-light speeds, moving the plot forward in the process.

But before describing Van Den Broeck's work, I'll summarize the Alcubierre warp drive concept itself, first featured in myР”В¬olumn (#81) in the November-1996 Analog. His improvement employs topological gymnastics to keep the interior of the warp bubble large while making its external surface very small. He has eliminated seemingly insurmountable problems with the Alcubierre warp-drive scheme. This improvement on the Alcubierre warp drive was devised by general relativity theorist Chris Van Den Broeck of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. No part may be reproduced in any form without the explicit permission of the author.Р”Р„ recent breakthrough has moved the concept of a 'warp drive' another step along its path from a fictional SF prop-idea to a well founded physics concept that might one day be realized. This column was written and submitted 08/15/99 and is copyrightedР”Р„ll rights reserved. Published in the February-2000 issue of Analog Science Fiction

Light travel, space warp, general realtivity, Van Den Broeck metric Keywords: Alcubierre warp drive, superluminal, faster than

Altvw99 Analog Science Fiction & Fact MagazineР”В«y John G.