arXiv.org has a paper in PDF on the potential for creating a working warp drive (how to get from point A to point B faster than light). It was submitted July 12, 2008 (and revised July 15) by Richard K. Obousy and Gerald Cleaver, both at Baylor University. The researchers said their theory is based on the Alcubierre drive (proposed in a paper in 1994). The physic paper’s summary states:
Over the last decade, there has been a respectable level of scientific interest regarding the concept of a warp drive. This is a hypothetical propulsion device that could theoretically circumvent the traditional limitations of special relativity which restricts spacecraft to sub-light velocities. Any breakthrough in this field would revolutionize space exploration and open the doorway to interstellar travel. This article discusses a novel approach to generating the warp bubble necessary for such propulsion; the mathematical details of this theory are discussed in an article published in the Journal of the British Interpanetary Society. The theory is based on some of the exciting predictions coming out of string theory and it is the aim of this article to introduce the warp drive idea from a non-mathematical perspective that should be accessible to a wide range of readers.
The full paper may be accessed from the link below:
Putting the “Warp” into Warp Drive
Interesting article. Improving the minimum energy needed from the whole universe to “only” the mass of Jupiter is an improvement, but still a bit of an issue. That and the fact that the authors are extrapolating form a speculative theory means I doubt it’ll happen anytime soon. Still interesting and cool that people are thinking about it.