In the 1990s, Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed a new hypothetical type of warp drive that would allow a spacecraft to travel faster than light. It causes the fabric of space to expand in front of the ship and contract behind it. The ship would be «the warp bubble», which would protect space travelers.
Scientists believe that the possibility of such an engine opens up new ways to detect traces of advanced alien civilizations using instruments such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). In the article on Arxiv.orgA team of researchers from various universities, including Oxford and the Max Planck Institute, suggest that the collapse of a curved Alcubierre bubble can generate detectable gravitational waves.
Of course, the existence of such a spacecraft raises many questions. First, it can be extremely difficult for the ship to stop, since passengers cannot influence the world outside the warp bubble. Another challenge is the stability of the system:
«There is (to our knowledge) no known equation of state that maintains the characteristics of a warp drive in a stable configuration for a long time. Therefore, while it is possible to require the warp bubble to be initially constant, it will quickly move away from this state and in most cases the spacetime deformation will disappear or collapse into a central point».
But because of this instability, it is also detectable. If the warp bubble were to collapse, it could create gravitational waves that would be very different from the effects of typical events, such as the collapse of an unstable neutron star or the collision of two black holes. However, at the moment, the authors’ conclusion is nothing more than a fascinating thought experiment. Further work is needed to understand the characteristics of the warp trail and how to detect it.
Source: The Byte
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