Richard Obousy on Alcubierre and Casimir Warp Drives

October 12, 2013

Dr. Richard Obousy describes an advanced space-propulsion concept based on modifying the local cosmological constant to facilitate an expansion/contraction of spacetime around a spacecraft to create an exotic form of field-propulsion. This idea is analogous to the Alcubierre bubble, but differs entirely in the approach, utilizing the physics of higher dimensional quantum field theory, instead of general relativity.

"In the spirit of Morris, Thorne and Yurtsever these warp drives, provide an unique and inspiring opportunity to ask the question 'what constraints do the laws of physics place on the abilities of an arbitrarily advanced civilization'. In this paper a new and innovative mechanism to generate the necessary 'Alcubierre warp bubble' is proposed. The main focus of the paper is to demonstrate that the manipulation of the radius of one (or more) of the extra dimensions found in quantum gravity theories, creates a local asymmetry in the cosmological constant which could be used to propel a space vehicle.

At such an early stage in the theoretical development of this idea it is challenging to make predictions on how this 'warp drive' might function. Naively one could envision a spacecraft with an exotic power generator that could create the necessary energies to locally manipulate the extra dimension(s). In this way, an advanced spacecraft would expand/contract the compactified spacetime around it, thereby creating the propulsion effect." -- Dr. Richard Obousy

About 12 minutes into the video is where Richard Obousy gets to proposing his version of warp drive created by altering the radius of extra dimensions which alters the cosmological constant. Before that Richard discuss the physics that is relevant to exotic propulsion.

Arxiv - Warp Drive: A New Approach


Abstract

Certain classes of higher dimensional models suggest that the Casimir effect is a candidate for the cosmological constant. In this paper we demonstrate that a sufficiently advanced civilization could, in principal, manipulate the radius of the extra dimension to locally adjust the value of the cosmological constant. This adjustment could be tuned to generate an expansion/contraction of spacetime around a spacecraft creating an exotic form of field-propulsion. Due to the fact that spacetime expansion itself is not restricted by relativity, a faster-than-light ‘warp drive’ could be created. Calculations of the energy requirements of such a drive are performed and an ‘ultimate’ speed limit, based on the Planckian limits on the size of the extra dimensions is found.


Arxiv - Casimir energy and the possibility of higher dimensional
manipulation

Abstract

It is well known that the Casimir e ffect is an excellent candidate for the stabilization of the extra dimensions. It has also been suggested that the Casimir e ffect in higher dimensions may be the underlying phenomenon that is responsible for the dark energy which is currently driving the accelerated expansion of the universe. In this paper we suggest that, in principle, it may be possible to directly manipulate the size of an extra dimension locally using Standard Model fi elds in the next generation of particle accelerators. This adjustment of the size of the higher dimension could serve as a technological mechanism to locally adjust the dark energy density and change the local expansion of spacetime. This idea holds tantalizing possibilities in the context of exotic spacecraft propulsion.