warp drive can be created

The authors of a new study published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity provide a theoretical basis for warp drives, suggesting that the technology for extremely fast space travel may not remain forever inaccessible to humanity, reports Space.

Science fiction fans are probably familiar with warp drives. These hypothetical engines control the fabric of spacetime, compressing it in front of the spacecraft and expanding it behind. This creates a kind of warp bubble that allows the spacecraft to travel either at the speed of light or even faster.

30 years ago, physicist Miguel Alcubierre published a groundbreaking paper in which he described how a true warp drive could work. But this propulsion system required negative energy, that is, an exotic substance that may or may not exist.

It also suggested the use of dark energy, that is, a mysterious force that apparently causes the accelerated expansion of the Universe.

The authors of the new study suggest that a true warp drive does not need exotic negative energy at all. According to scientists, this research changes the understanding of warp drives, because they were able to create the first of its kind model of such a device, and it proves that warp drives are not completely relegated to science fiction.

According to the scientists, their model “uses a complex mixture of traditional and new gravitational techniques to create a warp bubble that can move objects at high speeds without exceeding the limits of known physics.”

Although the explanations of the new model are very complex for ordinary science lovers. For example, the scientists write in the study that “the solution involves combining a stable shell of matter with a displacement vector distribution that closely matches well-known warp drive solutions such as the Alcubierre metric.” This is the name of the warp drive proposed by Alcubierre.

According to scientists, warp engines are exotic solutions to Einstein’s theory of relativity that offer a faster way to travel through space. The authors write that their “research shows that classical warp drive spacetime can be brought to satisfy energy conditions by adding a shell of ordinary matter with positive mass consistent with relativity.”

Scientists have shown in their model that their warp drive cannot reach speeds exceeding the speed of light, although it can approach this speed (300 thousand km/s).

Even if other scientists confirm that the mathematics presented in the new study is correct, humans are still a long way from being able to create a true warp drive. The study’s authors acknowledge this and believe that their results could be the first step towards fast interstellar flights.

Scientists believe that in the future it will be possible to create a real warp drive that would not violate the rules of classical physics, but would allow movement at sub-light speeds through space.