Late to this conversation, but even with new physics and mathematical models. the concept of faster then light warp travel where you shrink distances in front of your ship and elongate it or normalize it behind your ship have a requirement for negative mass or a ring of negative energy density around your vehicle to bend space time? And negative mass has never been observed.
Maybe this might explain it better then I can.
https://earthsky.org/space/warp-driv...-space-travel/
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Alcubierre’s warp drive would work by creating a bubble of flat spacetime around the spaceship and curving spacetime around that bubble to reduce distances. The warp drive would require either negative mass – a theorized type of matter – or a ring of negative energy density to work. Physicists have never observed negative mass, so that leaves negative energy as the only option.
To create negative energy, a warp drive would use a huge amount of mass to create an imbalance between particles and antiparticles. For example, if an electron and an antielectron appear near the warp drive, one of the particles would get trapped by the mass and this results in an imbalance. This imbalance results in negative energy density. Alcubierre’s warp drive would use this negative energy to create the spacetime bubble.
But for a warp drive to generate enough negative energy, you would need a lot of matter. Alcubierre estimated that a warp drive with a 100-meter bubble would require the mass of the entire visible universe.
In 1999, physicist Chris Van Den Broeck showed that expanding the volume inside the bubble but keeping the surface area constant would reduce the energy requirements significantly, to just about the mass of the sun. A significant improvement, but still far beyond all practical possibilities.
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Quote:
Two recent papers – one by Alexey Bobrick and Gianni Martire and another by Erik Lentz – provide solutions that seem to bring warp drives closer to reality.
Bobrick and Martire realized that by modifying spacetime within the bubble in a certain way, they could remove the need to use negative energy. This solution, though, does not produce a warp drive that can go faster than light.
Independently, Lentz also proposed a solution that does not require negative energy. He used a different geometric approach to solve the equations of General Relativity, and by doing so, he found that a warp drive wouldn’t need to use negative energy. Lentz’s solution would allow the bubble to travel faster than the speed of light.
It is essential to point out that these exciting developments are mathematical models. As a physicist, I won’t fully trust models until we have experimental proof. Yet, the science of warp drives is coming into view. As a science fiction fan, I welcome all this innovative thinking. In the words of Captain Picard:
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Its funny when we talk about breakthroughs. Some one mentioned extreme depth exploration, but that was more a question of engineering and materials then defying the laws of physics or nature that were in place.
For example you look at the Atomic Bomb, Science Fiction writers were talking about harnnessing the atom and creating atomic weapons far before the Manhatten project. The laws of physics always supported it. However what changed was on the outside of that.
The ability to manufacture the materials for the explosive core of an atomic bomb made it possible more then changing the rules of theoretical physics. But the first Atomic Bombs were unweildly bruteforce inefficient designs that were built on with material refinements and computer technology. Then we got the leap forward.
Getting man to the bottom of the ocean was always in theory possible. But materials and manufacturing advances made it possible.
I'm not saying FTL travel isn't possible. But we're so far away from it mainly and probably more then anything else because of the energy budget that it would require. In Star Trek they talk about matter and antimatter creating the required power to create a warp bubble, but honestly that wouldn't even come close to creating the energy required.
You, me, our kids, our kids kids and probably a 1000 or more generations is going to pass until we pobably see warp travel.