Researchers have always been intrigued by the concept of warp drive, which was first proposed by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994.
According to the theoretical Alcubierre warp drive concept, a spacecraft could appear to be traveling faster than light by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it.
This relies on the ability to create a modifiable energy density field that is smaller than a vacuum or negative mass, which is scientifically impossible.
Now, new research presents a solution for a warp drive that maintains a constant speed slower than light and meets all energy requirements.
The solution, the researchers say, combines a stable outer layer of matter with a distribution of shift vectors that closely resembles established warp drive models such as the Alcubierre metric.
Details of the team's research, led by senior applied physics scientist Jared Fuchs, were published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity.
Destroy the warp barrier
The Advanced Propulsion Laboratory (APL), an applied physics think tank staffed by some of the world's leading physicists, has been researching warp drive for many years.
APL uses advanced techniques from general relativity to develop new methods of propulsion by manipulating space and time.
In that regard, its open-source toolbox, Warp Factory, is designed to simulate the special physics of warp drives. Its development focuses on providing a numerical framework for analyzing the physicality of spacetime, which is a unique approach to the development of warp solutions.
According to the Applied Physics website, this leads to the formation of “a theoretical method of space travel that complies with general relativity and operates at constant sublight speeds without the need for non-physical forms of matter.” It is said that they were connected.
“This study changes the conversation about warp drive. By demonstrating a first-of-its-kind model, we show that warp drive is not relegated to the realm of science fiction,” said lead author and University of Alabama, Huntsville. said Jared Fuchs, a doctoral candidate at the school.
Evolving subluminal warp technology
The model, called “univelocity subluminal warp drive,” eliminates the requirement for “exotic” or negative energy sources that researchers had previously suggested.
This solution was achieved using a stable outer layer of material with an internally modified shift vector, resulting in a warp solution with positive mass. The shell was analyzed and built using Warp Factory.
Researchers say this exciting discovery is an important first step in understanding what makes practical warp solutions possible. Moreover, the spacetime designed for warp drive is of a new kind that goes beyond previous models, and the changing description of space offers new opportunities.
The researchers plan to further investigate this method and identify areas where it can be optimized to improve the mass-to-velocity ratio needed to maintain physical integrity.
They propose to perform a direct 1D optimization of the radial profiles of density, pressure, and shift vectors instead of the smoothing metric creation process.
The study also states that the research team will investigate “the problem of efficiently accelerating drives without compromising physics, a key research direction in the field of warp drive research.”
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About the editor
Jijo Malail Jijo is an automotive and business journalist based in India. He holds a BA (Hons) in History from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi and a PG degree in Journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi.He has written for news agencies, national newspapers and motoring magazines. I've worked at In his free time, he likes to go off-roading, participate in political discussions, travel, and teach languages.
