White–Juday warp-field interferometer

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File:White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer Experiment.png
White-Juday warp-field interferometer

The White–Juday warp-field interferometer is a space warping experiment to detect a microscopic instance of a warping of spacetime with the intent of creating an Alcubierre warp bubble, if possible. A research team led by Harold "Sonny" White in collaboration with Dr. Richard Juday [1] at the NASA Johnson Space Center and Dakota State University are conducting experiments but results so far have been inconclusive. An additional experiment with an EmDrive has shown repeatable results.

Motivation for the experiment

The NASA research team led by Harold White and their university partners currently aim to experimentally evaluate several concepts, especially a redesigned energy-density topology as well as an implication of brane cosmology theory. If space actually were to be embedded in higher dimensions, the energy requirements could be decreased dramatically and a comparatively small energy density could already lead to a measurable (i.e. using an interferometer) curvature of spacetime.[2] The theoretical framework for the experiment dates back to work by Harold White from 2003 as well as work by White and Eric W. Davis from 2006 that was published in the AIP, where they also consider how baryonic matter could, at least mathematically, adopt characteristics of dark energy (see section below). In the process, they described how a toroidal positive energy density may result in a spherical negative-pressure region, possibly eliminating the need for actual exotic matter.[3]

Theoretical framework

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Main article: Warp-field experiments § Theoretical framework

The metric derived by Alcubierre was mathematically motivated by cosmological inflation.

Interferometer experiment

File:Dr. Harold “Sonny” White at the interferometer.png
Harold White at the warp-field interferometer

The original device proposed by White after finding the energy-decreasing possibilities (see theoretical framework) is a modified Michelson interferometer that uses a λ = 633 nm beam from a helium–neon laser. The beam is split into two paths, with the space warping device placed in or near one beam path. The space warp would induce a relative phase shift between the split beams that should be detectable, provided that the magnitude of the phase shift created by the change in apparent path length is sufficient. By using 2D analytic signal processing, the magnitude and phase of the field can be extracted for study and comparison to theoretical models. The researchers first tried to see if the space warping by the electric-field energy of a high voltage (up to 20 kV) ring (0.5 cm radius) of high-κ barium titanate ceramic capacitors could be detected. After the first tests the experiment was moved to a seismically isolated lab due to very high interference caused by people walking outside the room. The current goals are to increase sensitivity up to one hundredth of a wavelength and implement the oscillating field in order to get definite results.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Results

White announced the first results of his interferometer experiment at a 2013 space conference. According to White, these results showed a vanishing but non-zero difference between charged and uncharged states after signal processing, but this difference remains inconclusive due to external interference and limits in the computational processing.[9][11] It is now clear that no exotic matter is involved in such an experiment but some other concept is being used.[12][13]

Interferometer experiment with an EmDrive

File:2015 NASA-JSC Eagleworks Warp-field Interferometer Test Set Up.jpg
Eagleworks warp-field interferometer test setup

During the first two weeks April 2015, scientists fired lasers through the EmDrive's resonance chamber[clarification needed] and noticed highly significant variations in the path time. The readings indicated that some of the laser pulses traveled longer, possibly pointing to a slight warp bubble inside the resonance chamber of the device. However, a small rise in ambient air temperature inside the chamber was also recorded, which could possibly have caused the recorded fluctuation in speeds of the laser pulses. According to Paul March a NASA JSC researcher, the experiment will be verified inside a vacuum chamber to remove all interference of air, which was done at the end of April 2015.[14][15] Although, White does not think the measured change in path length is due to transient air heating because the visibility threshold is 40 times larger than the predicted effect from air.

The experiment used a short, cylindrical, aluminum resonant cavity excited at a natural frequency of 1.48 GHz with an input power of 30 Watts, over 27,000 cycles of data (each 1.5 sec cycle energizing the system for 0.75 sec and de-energizing it for 0.75 sec) were averaged to obtain a power spectrum that revealed a signal frequency of 0.65 Hz with amplitude clearly above system noise. Four additional tests were successfully conducted that demonstrated repeatability.[16]

Warp drive research and potential for interstellar propulsion

The NASA research team has postulated that their findings could reduce the energy requirements for a spaceship moving at ten times the speed of light from the mass–energy equivalent of the planet Jupiter to that of the Voyager 1 spacecraft (~700 kg)[2] or less.[17] By harnessing the physics of cosmic inflation, future spaceships crafted to satisfy the laws of these mathematical equations may actually be able to get somewhere unthinkably fast—and without adverse effects.[18] Also, physicist and EarthTech CEO Harold E. Puthoff explained that contrary to widespread belief even the highly blue-shifted light seen on board such a spaceship would not fry its crew, being bathed in strong UV light and X-rays. It would however be dangerous to anyone seeing it fly by closely.[9]

Gallery

  • White-Juday Warp Field interferometer.png

    White–Juday warp-field interferometer process description.

  • Conceptual warp-field-interferometer test configuration from White's and Davis's 2006 STAIF conference proceedings[3]

  • Visualisation of York time, a measurement of spacetime curvature. Positive height corresponds to spatial expansion, negative height to contraction. The central region corresponds to flat spacetime.

  • Surface plots of York Time effects.png

    Surface plots of York time effects showing the expansion or contraction of space. This shows the relative change in energy density for several warp-bubble wall thicknesses.

  • Eagleworks Warp-Field Interferometer CCD Camera Test Results 04-04-2015.jpg

    Test results of the EmDrive using the Eagleworks warp-field interferometer CCD camera (04-04-2015)

  • Warp-field Path Length Changes due to Air Heating.jpg

    Warp-field path length changes due to air temperature – EmDrive

  • Warp requirements for 10m OD sphere

Media reaction

Research on this device and other proposed devices is notable as the original newsletter from the NASA center[18] and later presentations at a NASA conference[3] detailed NASA funding of research in advanced concepts[19][20][21] and in this particular case in the work proposed by Miguel Alcubierre, physical effects that have potential applications to space travel. In addition, these news releases included the researchers' enthusiastic descriptions of the potentials with statements such as: "... while this would be a very modest instantiation of the phenomenon, it would likely be a Chicago pile moment for this area of research..." Several space technology newsletters[22] and space society organizations have further publicized these claims.[17] Keith Cowing of the blog NASA Watch questions the oversight of this line of research by NASA[23] and requested an explanation.[24] Another journalist says that although a practical warp drive is a long way off, serious efforts to learn more about it are being undertaken now.[5] At the second 100 Year Starship Symposium, White told Space.com, “We're trying to see if we can generate a very tiny instance of this in a tabletop experiment”, the project is a "humble experiment" but said it represents a promising first step, “The findings I presented today change it from impractical to plausible and worth further investigation.”[22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-03/warp-factor?page=0%2C2 Warp Factor
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ White, H. (2013). Warp Field Mechanics 101. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, vol. 66, pp. 242–247
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36313.msg1361931#msg1361931 Re: EM Drive Developments - related to space flight applications - Thread 2
  15. ↑ http://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-tests-physics-defying-method-of-space-travel-em-drive/#!%7Ctitle=Is NASA one step closer to warp drive?
  16. ↑ http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/04/evaluating-nasas-futuristic-em-drive/ Evaluating NASA’s Futuristic EM Drive
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Center Innovation Fund
  21. ↑ Electric Propulsion
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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