Quote (Xx Shin3d0wn xX @ Dec 16 2017 09:53am)
Go on.... I think this “idea” is a bit far fetched mathematically.
Edit: I made this commend because I’m actually curious of what your thesis is delving into.
Hey thanks for the question! It's actually really mathematically sound. Unfortunately it's not physically sound.
The alcubierre metric can certainly be counted among the many analytical solutions to the einstein field equations (fundamental equations of general relativity) and has been cited in a decent number of theoretical GR papers. The "not so sound" part of it is actually the fact that you need negative energy density matter (basically negative mass) in order for the alcubierre drive to work.
It's one of the situations that comes up sometimes in physics where a solution to an equation MATHEMATICALLY works, but doesn't make any PHYSICAL sense. Basically, it's mathematically possible, but doesn't appear to be physically possible.
As for my thesis, I'm basically trying to generalize the idea that Alcubierre came up with and show that, independent of any coordinate system or other mathematical assumptions, the "warp drive" is physically impossible. It's kinda depressing (lol) because i'm attempting to mathematically demonstrate that faster-than-light travel is not possible within the framework that Alcubierre created, based on the fact that you have to be realistic about what is physically possible. Negative energy density mass is theoretically possible (look up the Casimir Effect), but in the quantities need to propel an actual "ship" it's just impractical. I think the numbers were around one solar mass (mass of the sun) of negative energy density matter (based on a paper that I can look up if you're interested... they've been sitting on my desk for a couple months)
Obviously all of the above explanation attempts to exclude large amounts of necessary math and GR background... If you're interested in the nitty gritty math/physics of general relativity and you're already familiar with some fundamental college math and physics kinda stuff i really suggest reading:
Gravity by James Hartle
Geometry and Relativity by Sean Carroll
Any textbook/website that discusses differential geometry would be really great too, although mathematicians and physicists tend to speak "different languages" sometimes.
Edit: Wow that got longer than I intended haha. Sorry didn't mean to go out of control there...
This post was edited by Spookyhoney on Dec 17 2017 12:08am