If we are going to travel to distant stars in one lifetime, we will need to move faster than light. For decades, research on supernatural travel has required a large number of hypothetical grains and types of cases with “exotic” physical features – such as negative energy density – that could not be detected, or are just beyond our control technology.
However, a modern study found a way around this issue by building conceiving of a new type of hyper-fast “solitons” relying on sources with only pure positive energy – capable of traveling at any speed. – according to a recent study published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity.
This raises the debate on how to design an engine that supports faster-than-light (superluminal) travel from science fiction to a plausible field of theoretical study.
A close drive could take us to Proxima Centauri and back within one lifetime
A soliton is a dense wave – referred to as a “dense bubble” for easier reference – that keeps its shape as it moves at a constant speed. The paper’s author Erik Lentz analyzed existing research and found and modified Einstein’s classical equations for a new arrangement for space-time curvature – that’s where the geometry of space-time is “warmed up” to whether its vector components align with a hyperbolic relationship.
Lentz’s solution found a modified time-geometry that was capable of working with conventional energy sources. In short, this new method employs a space and time structure organized in dense bubbles to achieve a unique solution for superluminal travel.
Importantly, Lentz equations only require positive energy density – and they don’t want negative energy ones.
If we could generate enough energy, the equations from Lentz ‘s research could allow it to travel to the nearest star outside our solar system – Proxima Centauri – and back within a single period of human life . In contrast, conventional rocket technology would take more than 50,000 years to make the one-way journey.
Driving at light speeds required ‘celestial’ amounts of positive energy
Lintz redesigned dense bubbles to reveal volume with very few tidal forces – thus spending time inside and outside the soliton game. This means that a hypothetical spaceship could travel great distances without leaving thousands of years away from friends and relatives because of the so-called “pair of paradoxes.”
Couples’ paradox involves one couple traveling near the speed of light with another on Earth. As the first one approaches a slower pace, it comes to a slower age than the one still on Earth. Not so, according to Lintz ‘s new alliances – the two twins may be galaxies apart, and will remain the same age when they are reunited.
“This work has moved the problem of faster-moving light one step away from theoretical study in basic physics and closer to engineering,” Lentz said, according to Phys.org report. “The next step is to find out how you can bring down the astronomical energy required within the range of today’s technologies, such as a very large nuclear power plant. Then we can talk about building the first prototypes. “
Replacing the near-term bubbles could replace energy costs
However, the energy required to power this type of space-based movement is staggering. “The energy required for this drive to travel at the speed of light involves a spacecraft 100 meters in radius on the order of hundreds of times the mass of the planet Jupiter,” Lentz explained in a report. Phys.org. “The energy savings would have to be staggering, with about 30 orders of magnitude to be in the range of today’s nuclear reactors.”
“Fortunately, a number of energy-saving methods have been suggested in earlier research that could reduce the energy required by nearly 60 orders of magnitude,” Lentz said in the report. Currently, Lentz is still exploring whether the operational potential of these methods is changing – or whether entirely new ways are needed to bring energy levels down to something more feasible to today’s engineering capabilities.
An earlier study was also published in Classical and Quantum Gravity suggest that dense bubble shapes require less energy – like a penny flying face-first, rather than a fringe, like a frisbee. But with this new research coming so close to the last one, we may be living in a world where engineers can start working on prototype design of a compact driver faster than light.