Who can talk about warp speed theory and warp speed drive?

Warp drive is a technology of space navigation by using space bending. It first appeared in the sci-fi movie Star Trek, and it is a superluminal propulsion device. Later, it also involves a space-time model of theoretical physics. Supporters believe that this technology can travel to the depths of the universe without heavy fuel or even at a speed faster than the speed of light.

In order to discuss the warp propulsion system in depth, we usually refer to the fifth chapter "Warp propulsion system" in Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual co-authored by Rick Sternbach and Michael Hiroshi Okuda, in which several topics are mentioned:

The theory and application of warp speed field include warp speed measurement, speed and limit.

The substance-antimatter reaction group includes a reactant injector, a magnetic confinement joint, a reaction chamber, the function of a Dilisen crystal, and an energy transmission conduit.

Warp field engine room, including plasma injection system, warp field coil and warp propulsion effect.

The storage and transportation of antimatter, the fuel supply of warp propulsion system, the fuel supply of Barcelona ramjet, and the generation of antimatter on board.

Engine room operation and safety, emergency shutdown process and disaster occurrence process.

However, it should be noted that there are often contradictions between the album and the technical manual of Galaxy Flying Dragon or the technical manual of Galaxy Outpost.

The essence of continuous deformation propulsion is to produce warping velocity field around the ship. The warp field can be generated by charging the subspace coil of the warp engine room with the high-energy plasma generated by the matter/antimatter reaction.

The key to overcome the limitation of general relativity is that the subspace field reduces the gravity constant felt by the covered object. If the gravitational constant is reduced to zero by the influence of the field, the traditional theory of relativity will not work. In this case, the quality factor has been deleted. Ships can gain propulsion through "asymmetric crawling field" control. This means that the subspace field is empowered according to the front and back structure, thus promoting the space around the ship, and the name continuum twisted propulsion is born. A warp field can reach the warp level, but interestingly, this speed is not just the speed of light. Objects traveling at this speed, even the light itself, alternate between two speed States, higher than the speed of light and lower than the speed of light, and the residence time of each state does not exceed Planck time.

The key to achieve high warping level is to nest multiple warping fields together and coordinate the coupling rate and decoupling rate between warping fields. At high warp speed, the coupling and decoupling effect produces greater propulsion. As pointed out in the above warping scale, the energy required to reach the high warping level increases rapidly with the increase of speed, which makes it impossible to reach the warping level of 10-the coupling and decoupling rate of the field will be shorter than Planck time, and the energy demand will exceed the load of the warping core.

Since the warping field is aligned and generated in a front-to-back architecture, a question arises: What happens if the field is not aligned? It is speculated that this will have a disastrous impact on the structural integrity of the ship-part of the hull will sail faster than other parts, but the hull will tear.

In 1950s, German physicist Heim began to explore the concept of "super-time-space force", and he proposed that "warp navigation" is to realize super-light-speed flight by using time-space distortion and time-space jump. He believes that a strong magnetic field can generate a gravitational field to propel the spacecraft at high speed. If the magnetic field is strong enough, the spacecraft can enter the second dimension higher than our time and space and sail at superluminal speed. As soon as the magnetic field disappears, the spacecraft will return to the present time and space.

Heim supplemented Einstein's four-dimensional space-time theory with the theory of "second space", so the universe became six-dimensional space-time. In Heim's view, gravity and electromagnetic force can be transformed into each other, so the rotating magnetic field will weaken the gravity of the earth, so that the spacecraft can leave the ground.

1957 Dunham published his theory publicly. But at that time, many physicists said it was difficult to accept it because they thought it was difficult to generate such a huge magnetic field under the material and technical conditions at that time. It was not until 200 1 heim died that his theory disappeared.

In 2005, physicist Hauser of Salzgit University of Applied Sciences and colleague Droschel wrote an experimental paper based on Heim's theory to explore the feasibility of making a "hyperspace engine". Unexpectedly, it was suddenly awarded the 2005 "Nuclear Energy and Future Aviation" project award by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. At the same time, the US Air Force showed great interest in "hyperspace engines" capable of exceeding the speed of light, and sent representatives to meet Hauser. At the meeting, Hauser emphasized that the plan is still in a fairly preliminary stage. If the theory is proved to be feasible, an experimental model spacecraft can be built within five years.

Therefore, this paper award issued by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has caused quite a shock in the global physics community, which is equivalent to recognizing some of Heim's theories. Then Roger Leonard, a space power researcher at the National Laboratory in San Diego, the US Department of Energy, publicly announced that they currently have an X-ray generator-Z Machine-which can provide the magnetic field needed for the experiment. He said: "even if the experiment proves that the conclusion is wrong, in my opinion, it is a successful experiment."

advance

The speed of warp navigation is usually replaced by warp grade. It is generally believed that the warping speed of 1 is the speed of light in vacuum; At a higher level, the rate increases exponentially. Several episodes of original TV series once made Enterprise sail at super warp speed, which was as high as 14.6. However, the actual speed of any warp speed level has never been clearly stated on the screen as a classic record. What's more, the expressions of sailing time and interstellar distance in various TV dramas have never been strictly consistent (even quite loose).

Knowing that this is a problem, the creator of the technical manual of Galaxy Dragonfly decided that the warp speed of 10 should be the maximum. Under the background of Star Trek terminology, it is suggested to readjust the warp speed level. The old warp speed level 6 should be changed to the new warp speed level 5, but the warp speed level 10 is infinite and cannot be achieved. The manufacturer instructed the spacecraft to approach the warp speed 10 at will, but it just couldn't reach the warp speed 10. In this way, nobles and travelers can sail at a fairly fast speed and avoid restrictions. For example, it is estimated that the voyager pushed the Enterprise to a warp speed of 9.999996. The fourth generation TV series "Return to Earth" seconded this setting in the series "Threshold", in which the characters mentioned that the warp speed of 10 was impossible to achieve, because it was an infinite speed-but in any case, they achieved it later, accompanied by the side effect of rapid (reverse) evolution into an amphibious salamander. (Although this is an event that is generally ignored by many fans, producers and even writers and producers of brannon braga. )

time expand

Ships sailing at warp speed will not feel any form of time extension; After all, on the whole, there is no information exchange between warp-speed spacecraft and the universe. If the spacecraft uses a pulse engine and the speed is sub-light speed (sub-light speed), it will feel the extension of time, because the pulse-driven spacecraft is still in the normal space-time continuum. Because of this, most ships will limit their pulse speed to about a quarter of the speed of light.

Superwarp speed

Hyperwarp is used many times, referring to the high-order form of warp drive, which is often used by Borg people. However, it is also an unsuccessful project of the development of Starfleet, which appeared in the movie "Broken Rock". Just like entering the warp speed without using infinite energy, it is necessary to generate a warp speed field around the starship to break through the light speed barrier (theoretically impossible in our universe); Similarly, the hyperwarp field also needs to reach very high superluminal speed (so that the spacecraft can cross the distance of galaxy-class in a short time). )

20/kloc-in June, 2004, White, a mechanical engineer and physicist of NASA, was researching and developing the IXS Enterprise spacecraft which can be used for interstellar travel. Recently, he collaborated with 3D artist Rademaker to make a concept map of a spaceship. Once the spacecraft comes out, it only takes two weeks to reach the place 4 light years away from the sun.

From 2065438 to May 2005, scientists from NASA conducted research on warp drive and tested the power system of this science fiction. After the news was announced, many people paid attention. Supporters believe that the research and development of warp drive can allow us to go deep into the universe without heavy fuel, even faster than the speed of light. That sounds great. This studio is located in the Eagle Engineering Laboratory of NASA Johnson Space Center. The chief scientist is Dr. Harold White. They get thrust through a power plant called EM drive. The principle of this device is not the "warp drive" of traveling by warping time and space in the general sense.

The working principle of EM drive is actually a part of energy generated by electromagnetic waves in a conical metal enclosed space. The outside world thinks that this idea has a problem of principle, which is a violation of the conservation of momentum in physics. It's like sitting in the driver's seat of a car, pushing the dashboard and the car will move forward. Scientists believe that the solution of Eagleworks Lab still needs to be solved. In the previous tests, physicists did not run the system in a vacuum environment, and there may still be problems in the experimental setup. The bigger problem is that the mathematical and physical principles behind the experiment are not perfect at present, and may even not exist.

As we all know, Einstein mentioned the so-called "four-dimensional space" model. The three-dimensional space we live in will also bend to the fourth dimension (time axis), just as the plane of the two-dimensional space bends to the three-dimensional space to form a sphere. Now, if we imagine our universe as a ball, it just bends to the time axis, not to the Z axis (as shown in figure 1). Then, the three-dimensional space we live in is the outermost surface of the sphere. And counting from the surface of the ball to the center, this is the so-called "secondary space" (that is, subspace).

As shown in the figure, if the distance from point A to point B is180,000 km and the flying speed of the spacecraft is 100,000 km per second, then the time taken is1800/10 =180 (seconds).

Assuming that the distance from point A to point B is 90 million kilometers, the speed of the spacecraft from point A to point B is 9000/ 180=50 (10,000 kilometers per second).

In other words, the real process of "warp sailing" is like this:

(1). The spacecraft took off at point A and began to accelerate;

(2) The spacecraft uses the force field generated by the strong magnetic field to jump into the subspace and come to point A;

(3) Spacecraft flying in subspace, from point A to point B;

(4) The spacecraft cancels the strong magnetic field, jumps back to the normal space, and comes to point B. ..

It can be seen from the results that although the spacecraft has been flying at a speed of 654.38+ 1 100 million km/s, its speed from point A to point B is 500,000 km/s, which has exceeded the speed of light.

This is the superluminal flight realized by time-space distortion and time-space jump. Space-time jump needs a huge force field, and the current view is that a strong magnetic field will provide this force field.