In a surprising turn of events, a scientist and his team may have actually found a key element that could bring us closer to doing just that. The warp drive pioneer and former NASA scientist Dr. Harold Sunny White has now reported the discovery of an actual real-world warp bubble.
Content
- Warping through time
- What makes warp bubbles so important?
- A Bold Proposition
- The Casimir Effect
- Is this real warp bubble?
Warping through time
The term warp bubble was first coined in the year 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre. Warp bubbles are quite a complicated notion involving a ton of math but in simple words it can be defined as a detached region of space-time which theoretically at least is capable of moving faster than the speed of light. It is that bit of space that's contracted in the front and expanded in the back, it is this contraction and expansion that in theory actually pushes the bubble including its contents forward at faster than light speed.
It's able to do all of this without violating the laws of physics. Think of it as moving through the cosmos while surfing a bubble of condensed space.
What makes warp bubbles so important?
First and foremost they eliminate one of the most important problems when it comes to light speed travel and that is time dilation. So say for example, we succeeded building a spacecraft that is actually able to travel at the speed of light. Everything that is outside of your spacecraft would speed up as well. So while it may have only taken you a couple of hours to reach your favorite planet it could have equated to years of time passing on earth. The current known laws of physics at least will give you this outcome.
So if you're planning a trip at light speed into space it's going to be way longer outside of the craft than you actually think. This is where warp bubbles are able to get around this problem because the space inside the said bubble remains unaffected. It would be possible to actually take what should have been a 40 light year journey and shorten it and make it as though it were only a 0.5 light year journey. Which would mean that you could go on this journey into space and upon returning safely back to earth everything you know would have only aged a couple of years.
A Bold Proposition
For a long time warp bubbles were considered to be mere science fiction. Up until Alcubierre came along and theorized his Alcubierre warp drive. Which maintained general relativity while also allowing for faster than light travel. He made waves in the physics community when he first published his findings on the possibilities of warping interstellar space theoretically at least. He was the first to make the bold proposal that it was possible to actually manipulate the fabric of space itself.
In order to travel faster than light by expanding space behind the starship and contracting the space in front of it. Thus reducing any intervening gaps between planets stars and more. The idea created quite the buzz and was immediately called far-fetched and unrealistic by many.
The math used for the scene was relatively sound but it still posed a wide variety of problems. The amount of energy that would be required for something like this to even be possible at least for now doesn't exist. In the year 2012 Dr. White who was then working for NASA published his own paper with suggested changes to the original math and shape of the craft by Alcubierre which brought the energy required much lower.
The development of an actual warp bubble of warp drive has since only been mentioned through the years but with no more important contributions. When Alcubierre first put in his original paper there was something fundamental that hadn't yet been realized. The fact that the default amount of energy in space isn't just zero but rather some positive non-zero finite value. Keeping in mind that there is a finite amount of energy to the very fabric of space itself it's important to note the famous calculation that was made way back in 1940.
The Casimir Effect
Back in the early days of quantum field theory, Hendra Casimir made a very valuable contribution the Casimir Effect as we call it that has rather remarkable implications. Electromagnetic fields exist everywhere in space and they cannot be removed but he envisioned two parallel conducting plates for example as a result of which the energy inherent to the space outside the plates would be slightly greater than the energy inside causing them to attract. This is significant because it does tie in with the fact that though this effect is not the same as a warp bubble. In principle it could be used to warp space in the negative fashion that would be needed to create one.
Now in 2021 Dr white and a team of researchers are conducting research funded by DARPA on objects called Casimir cavities stemming from that very same Casimir effect. As a part of the research the team uses micron cake electrical conductors in a variety of shapes including pillars, spheres, plates and other such cavities to generate electrical potentials of a couple hundred microvolts which turned out to be exactly what previous experiments and many theorists AI predictions indicated.
The Casimir effect refers to the attractive force of a fluctuating magnetic field that tends to pull two objects like plates and mirrors as used in experiments together when inside a vacuum. It was at the time of studying and carrying out experimental research that Dr White and his colleagues actually made a surprising discovery in a custom Casimir cavity. They noticed in their calculations something that looks suspiciously like a warp bubble. He and his team released a paper in July 2021 about what they are calling the possible structure of the energy density present in a Casimir cavity.
They accidentally created a microscopic experiment while researching how energy is distributed around wavelengths. The experiment resulted in enough theoretical energy to achieve warp speed just like the concept that was theorized by physicist Miguel Alcubierre. The main reason his entire findings were downplayed was due to the mathematical drawbacks and the amount of energy that was needed. But the latest DARPA funded research released by Dr White and his team actually indicates that the energy requirements are far lesser than previously believed. This of course is great news and if they are proven right then white's team has possibly discovered the first warp bubble and all this without even meaning to do so. In his own words Dr White says...
To my knowledge this is the first paper in the peer-reviewed literature that proposes a real sizable nano structure that is predicted to manifest a real albeit humble warp bubble.
He cautioned that this doesn't necessarily mean we are near building a fully functioning warp drive. But the detailed numerical analysis of the Casimir cavities helped the team identify a very real and manufacturable nanostructure. That is predicted to generate a negative vacuum energy density that it would manifest a real nano scale warp bubble not just in theory but the real thing.
The finding not only confirms the predicted toroidal structure and negative energy aspects of a war bubble but has also given rise to pathways that he and other researchers can now use to follow and design and perhaps one day even construct a real-world spaceship that will warp through time.
To further evaluate the groundbreaking discovery the team has even come up with a proposed design for a testable nano scale warp drive craft in the future. One thing's for sure when Dr white began his research project under DARPA the last thing he expected was to stumble upon such a historical finding. Especially when it ties in so closely with everything he has ever believed and the big claims he made in his warp drive proposal. Whether by pure coincidence or personal destiny he and his team seem to be at the right place at the right time and if proven it might change the future of space travel forever.
Is this real warp bubble?
The million dollar question though is this a real warp bubble? The simple answer is that it sure has the potential to be if it is experimentally validated. And as always not everyone seems entirely convinced by the idea. Seeing as no experiments or evidence can be shown for the same and what lies in theory may not actually be possible in real life. Also many are considering the fact that the findings come from the team led by Dr White who is famous for his big bold claims which some say have yet to amount to anything.
On the other hand some strongly agree that this new discovery is potentially groundbreaking and with more in-depth study and experiments it could bring us closer to actually beating the speed of light. While it's easy to jump to conclusions and get excited dr white himself reminds us not to get ahead of ourselves.
Science is a slow and arduous process testing and experiments will need to be carried out before any further plans can be made. In his own words he rightly states that though dreaming is important he personally emphasizes the importance of doing in-depth research and finding new and additional applications that are practical.
Dr White and his team plan on conducting many more experiments in smaller models to better understand the opportunities of a prospective warp drive. But as of now they are said to be laser focused on the research around the Casimir cavities.
So while some are already asking when we will be seeing scientists make something like this actually fly Dr White's motto remains the same crawl-walk-run in short baby steps.
Only time will tell what the serendipitous discovery might mean for the future but for the time being we know that it's a monumental step in the right direction.
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