“Just to the next star”: Will we soon be traveling with a warp drive?

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Einstein’s theory of relativity says that we live in a four-dimensional “space-time”. That is a little difficult to imagine, because this spacetime is not static, i.e. fixed, but can change through masses, i.e. bulge. If an object with a certain mass moves through spacetime, it bulges around the object, roughly like a tablecloth over which a plate with cake is pushed. And there is the crux of the matter:

During the cake plate – in theory! – could reach the maximum speed of light, the tablecloth could also deform faster according to Einstein’s calculation. This is exactly what happened even at a major event, without which we would all not be here and nobody could read this text: the Big Bang. The theory is that shortly after this dramatic event, the universe expanded extremely quickly for an extremely short period of time. With a factor of about 10 to the power of 50 – that’s a 1 with 50 zeros. The calculated diameter of the observable universe is now 93 billion light years, but that is only what we can “see” with the help of technical means. In addition, there is an invisible part that the light has not yet reached and will not reach as space continues to expand. So space was and is, at least at times, faster than light. We find out: So it works.

“Outsmart” physical limits

This is exactly what Alcubierre has already made use of for his considerations. For a warp drive to function, one would basically only have to push together the space-time in front of the spaceship and stretch it again right behind the spaceship. This effectively outwits the physical limits that the speed of light “imposes” on us. Alcubierre compares this with a conveyor belt at the airport, with an escalator it is also understandable: “When ground emerges from nowhere behind me and is removed in front of me, I move forward.” Sure so far?

But of course all of this is not that simple – and that is due to a lot of physical laws – also to Einstein’s formula E = mc². Because the spaceship would have to be in a bubble, the shell of which would have to be thinner than an atom, while the mass of the spaceship would have to be gigantic. This is not possible for various reasons. One of them: Somehow a great negative energy would have to be tinkered into it.

The spaceship in the bubble rethought

And that’s exactly what Lentz has now found – again with Einstein. The theory of relativity includes the so-called Einstein’s field equations, which can be used to calculate how a fixed distribution of matter and energy deforms space-time. If everything fits, space curves around the bubble with the spaceship – and thus drives it. Lentz looked at Einstein’s formulas and Alcubierre’s elaborations on the warp drive and, to put it simply, adapted them a little. We save you the exact explanations, because imagining four dimensions in our three-dimensional world is, well, let’s say: very challenging. In summary, it can be said: The bubble around the spaceship calculated by Lentz does not have smooth edges like those of a soap bubble, but instead deforms itself again and again.

All of this is far from being feasible. But in theory it is possible because now only positive energy is needed, no more negative energy. There are even ideas about how to assemble such a bubble. However, there is still a lack of suitable material. There is no such thing. And on the corresponding drive. So far, it has not even been physically conceivable because it would have to accelerate to supersonic speed. Lentz’s calculations only deal with locomotion in space when the spaceship in its bubble is already on its way. How the whole thing should start is completely open. The problem with this is that our understanding of physics – more precisely of the particles we know – does not allow this, because the said particles can travel at the maximum speed of light. In other words: the fastest of these particles is, yes, light.

Nevertheless, many physicists who have recently taken a closer look at the matter explain it as at least no longer completely insane. It doesn’t have to be the speed of light or faster, explains Alexey Bobrick, an astrophysicist from Lund, Sweden. Because: Due to the theory of relativity, time passes inside the bubble, i.e. also inside the spaceship, more slowly than outside. The travelers could therefore survive at least “shorter” trips before they die of old age.

Everything is still a long way off …

Nevertheless: So far, what Lentz has put on paper is a thought experiment, far from practical implementation. But he himself wants to stay tuned, “Spektrum.de” quotes him. Who knows, maybe in several hundred years the first “Lentz rocket” will launch towards infinity at faster than light speed …

But it is still beautiful enough on earth. In order for it to stay that way, each of us should, however, give some thought to sustainable living. Then in the end there will be a lot more time for thought experiments in space.

Swell:

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