We've all seen it frequently in science fiction films, so the concept seems completely plausible. Characters enter commands, and spacecraft reverse speed, jump to hyperspace, and create wormholes through space and time.

Whatever the terminology, the outcome is always the same. They fly through fictional universes faster than the speed of light, so travel between star systems is not only possible, but practical.

But in the real universe we live in, a huge barrier appears to forbid this. According to Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, it cannot travel faster than light.

The light travels at an incredible speed of approximately 3 x 108 meters per second. This means that when you look at the universe, you won't see the heavenly objects as they are currently appearing. You can see how light from them first emerged when they departed across the universe.

Within the solar system, these delays are relatively short. For example, it takes only one second of sunlight to bounce off the surface of the moon and reach the Earth, but it takes eight minutes to cover the distance between the sun and our world.

The more visible the longer the delay, which gives rise to the light-year concept as a measure of distance. Our closest star, Proxima Centauri, is about 4.25 light years away. In other words, it takes 4.25 years to get there from there. Therefore, the stars are not as they are now, and look like 4.25 years ago.

Beyond the vast expanse of the universe, distance is ultimately measured in billions of light years. This is what makes cosmology possible. The more we see the universe, the older the objects we see, and we can diagrammaticize today's evolution into stars and galaxies.

But if you can travel there and see what those objects look like now, wouldn't that be great?

Having a warp drive may sound like it, but it has some pretty weird results. For one thing, it would ruin the notion of causality.

Causality is our common sense perception that precedes effectiveness. But if you saw a faster spaceship trip towards you, you will see the ship in two places at once. The light carrying information about the ship's departure would not have reached the eye before the ship could be seen along the way.

Worse, the mathematics of relativity shows that if the speed exceeds the speed of light, literally time travel is possible.

This creates a full-scale causal paradox such as the famous “grandfather's paradox.” And how does it work – will you just no longer exist?

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Negative energy inside

At first glance, Einstein's theory appears to protect us from such head-envelope challenges, as it appears to make it impossible to move faster than light. Masu.

According to the equation, the energy required to accelerate the ship to such a speed is infinite. However, researchers then began to look at mathematics in more detail.

A general theory of relativity – Einstein's extension of his special relativity – he proposes that the universe is made of adaptive fabrics called the space-time continuum, and he uses gravity to make this fabric I explained that it was distorted.

1994, Physicist Dr. Miguel Alcubière At the University of Wales, and at Cardiff, we showed that solutions exist within the theory of general relativity that can be interpreted as warp drives. The problem was that it requires an exotic substance known as “negative energy” to make it work.

Astronomers have toyed using the concept of negative energy to explain why the universe appears to be accelerating, but with an understanding of physics, matter is comfortable to exist It cannot be done.

Then in May 2024, A group of researchers reexamined mathematics We will use only the types of particles and energy that make up the planet and people to see if the Alkbiere Warp phenomenon can be generated.

Their conclusion: Yes, they did. Dr. Jared Fuchs And colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA, discovered that they could arrange for normal material and energy to create warp phenomena and transport people through space. But there was a catch: they could only make it work at sub-light speed.

“It takes a lot of energy to make small changes to the space,” Fuchs says. To move the passenger seat, the size of a small room requires a small house-sized “warp bubble” for the size of a small room. And to make it, you need to narrow the mass of Jupiter several times. It becomes the volume that is the size of a small asteroid.

“now, [is that] Is it possible? perhaps. [Is it] Practical? I wouldn't say that,” says Fuchs. Even if it was possible to create such a device, the old boundaries still exist. To accelerate faster than the speed of light, you need an infinite amount of energy.

“We will not resolve the future of rapid transportation like Star Trek,” admits Fuchs.

Trouble with Tachon

Other researchers have conducted their own research into relativity. Professor Andrzej Dragan Collaborators at the University of Warsaw in Poland decided to consider possible solutions within the equation of particles that travel faster than light.

Physicists have previously messed with such concepts. They even called such virtual particles “tachyons,” but essentially considered them more than mathematical curiosity. However, Dragan and her colleagues found an equation explaining Tachyon's behavior.

“Mathematically, they make perfect sense,” says Dragan. In other words, our familiar world of secondary particle particles could coexist with the upper heart family of the second family, the tachyon.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that spacecraft can speed faster than light. To do that, Dragan explains that it requires the infinite energy that Einstein predicted, as well as the infinite energy to slow the Tachyon down to a sub-blue-minal speed.

“You can't exceed the speed of light in either direction,” says Dragan.

Nevertheless, the study We have proposed some fascinating results that may explain some of the most inexplicable observations physicists are working on.

When dealing with Tachon, Dragan and his colleagues encountered the causal issues they had been expecting. But the more I looked into these details, the more I realized that something surprising was happening. The strict lack of causes and effects was very similar to the behavior of normal, everyday subatomic particles.

The theory of relativity explains the behavior of the universe at its largest scale, while quantum theory describes the subatomic domain as a very different location.

Quantum theory introduces probability into particle interactions. For example, we know that an atom can absorb photons of light and at some stage it will re-emit that photon, but we cannot predict when or in which direction it will take.

In other words, the exact cause is hidden from us, and all we have left is an observable effect. Dragan suggests that when tachyon interacts with normal substances, the outcome of that interaction is unpredictable – like the emission of photons.

So, while these latest ideas do not seem to open a route to practical warp drives, they may only show a deeper look at the nature of the cosmos and the origins of quantum behavior.

About our experts

Dr. Jared Fuchs He is the CEO of Celedon Solutions Inc. and works in the Faculty of Physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA. His work has been published Classical and quantum gravity.

Professor Andrzej Dragan He is a filmmaker and professor of physics at the University of Warsaw in Poland, and a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore. His work has been published Physical review, Classic and Quatnam Gravity and New Journal of Physics.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com