Alcubierre Warp Drive(워프 드라이브)

Alcubeirre Warp Drive

The Alcubierre warp drive is a dirve that works by space distortion, as shown in the image below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

According to Alcubeirre's metric, by expanding space behind a spacecraft and compressing space in front of it a spacecraft is able to move forward in speeds faster than c. This is similar to surfing on a wave - only that in this case, its a wave caused by distortion of space. The higher the value of 𝜃(energy density) is, the faster the object in the warp bubble can move.

The warp bubble is the flat reigion of space between the reigions where space is curved. This bubble of space can be considered 'seperated' from the space outside of it. In the bubble is an inertial system; time dilation does not occur, and the process of warp drive still obeys general relativity.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Alcubierre-Warp-Drive_fig29_235107865

 

Obstacles

Energy

The amount of (negative) energy required to power the drive is enormous. Even though Harold. G. White was able to decrease the energy neccessary to send a small spacecraft across the Milky way from several times the energy of the entire observable universe to just about the mass of  Voyager 1 by changing the position of negatie energy around the spacecraft, it is almost impossible to obtain and controll a big enough amount of negative energy. 

Preparations

If a source for negative energy can't be found, a path of matter enabling the warp drive of a spacecraft should be placed. This step will take a long time, and it might take even less time not using a warp drive. But in long terms, if 'warp materials' are reusable and do not need to be placed every time, using a warp drive might be more efficient.

Survival

Without proper protection, spacecrafts in the warp bubble might become seriously damaged or even destroyed when colliding with an object outside of it(warp bubble). Since the spacecraft is moving at a speed faster than c, collision with even a piece of dust will cause damage.

 

When a warp drive is desengaged, anything directly in front of it is likely to be destroyed. This is because of the sudden release of compressed energy. This might even destroy the destination it was travelign to.

 

 

Alcubierre's Paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0009013.pdf

thumbnail: https://medium.com/futuresin/constructing-an-alcubierre-warp-drive-373b37eb83b0