Astrophysicist Erik W. Lentz of the University of Göttingen in Germany has come up with a new way to bypass the speed of light limitation and create a warp drive based on the as yet unexplored space-time curvature configurations. The research is published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, reports uni-goettingen.de.
The theory of relativity allows for the existence of a motor that can travel faster than the speed of light, but this would require a huge amount of hypothetical matter with exotic properties, such as negative energy density.
However, new research can circumvent this problem, provided that it is possible to create ultrafast solitons using conventional energy.
Soliton is a stable wave moving at a constant speed. Lenz derived Einstein’s equations for unexplored soliton spacetime configurations that allow one to overcome the speed of light.
This would allow travel to Proxima Centauri and back to Earth in years, not millennia. Modern rocket technology makes it possible to make a one-way flight in 50 thousand years.
The passage of time inside a soliton is almost the same as outside, which excludes the twin paradox, according to which a twin traveling at high speeds will be younger than his brother on Earth.
However, it still requires an astronomical amount of energy to operate, hundreds of times the equivalent mass of Jupiter. However, Lenz does not exclude that various energy saving methods will reduce this number by 60 orders of magnitude.
