Positive energy warp drive from hidden geometric structures

DOI10.1088/1361-6382/AC0E47MaRDI QIDQ5162919zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Shaun D. B. Fell, Lavinia Heisenberg

Publication date 8 November 2021

Published in Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.06488

zbMATH Keywords

positive energysuperluminal travelwarp driveweak energy condition

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Soliton solutions (35C08) Uncertainty relations, also entropic (81S07) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Galactic and stellar dynamics (85A05) Radiative transfer in astronomy and astrophysics (85A25)

Abstract: Warp drives in Einstein's general theory of relativity provide a unique mechanism for manned interstellar travel. It is well-known that the classical superluminal soliton spacetimes require negative energy densities, likely sourced by quantum processes of the uncertainty principle. It has even been claimed by few that negative energy densities are a requirement of superluminal motion. However, recent studies suggest this may not be the case. A general decomposition of the defining variables and the corresponding decomposition of the Eulerian energy are studied. A geometrical interpretation of the Eulerian energy is found, shedding new light on superluminal solitons generated by realistic energy distributions. With this new interpretation, it becomes a relatively simple matter to generate solitonic configurations, within a certain subclass, that respect the positive energy constraint. Using this newfound interpretation, a superluminal solitonic spacetime is presented that possesses positive semi-definite energy. A modest numerical analysis is carried out on a set of example configurations, finding total energy requirements four orders of magnitude smaller than the solar mass. Extraordinarily, the example configurations are generated by purely positive energy densities, a tremendous improvement on the classical configurations. The geometrical interpretation of the Eulerian energy thus opens new doors to generating realistic warp fields for laboratory study and potential future manned interstellar travel.

Recommendations

• Introducing physical warp drives
• A `warp drive' with more reasonable total energy requirements
• Charged dust solutions for the warp drive spacetime
• Fundamental limitations on ‘warp drive’ spacetimes
• Breaking the warp barrier: hyper-fast solitons in Einstein–Maxwell-plasma theory

Cites work

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• Fundamental limitations on ‘warp drive’ spacetimes
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• Introducing physical warp drives
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Cited in

(10)

• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5778445 (Why is no real title available?)
• On the total energy conservation of the Alcubierre spacetime
• Introducing physical warp drives
• ADM mass in warp drive spacetimes
• Influence of anisotropic matter on the alcubierre metric and other related metrics: revisiting the problem of negative energy
• Visualization and analysis of the curvature invariants in the Alcubierre warp-drive spacetime
• Analyzing warp drive spacetimes with warp factory
• Constant velocity physical warp drive solution
• A closer look at Natário's zero-expansion warp drive
• Warp drives and closed timelike curves

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