However, Casimir cavities are in no way linked to distortion theory or mechanics. The Casimir effect is an attractive force between two parallel uncharged and conductive plates, due to quantum fluctuations in vacuum. “I think this is a great example of what happens when you do a job for a specific reason and discover something else that you didn’t expect to find,” Dr. White told the Propulsion Energy Forum at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in August.

The simplest theoretical geometry analyzed as part of the DARPA-funded work consisted of a standard Casimir cavity with parallel plates, equipped with pillars arranged along the median plane of the cavity, with the aim of detecting a transient electric field resulting from polarization. assumed vacuum. occurring along the median plane of the cavity, the team explains. A specific analytical technique was used to numerically evaluate the vacuum response to the Casimir cavity; however, “these analysis results were found to be qualitatively quite similar to a two-dimensional representation of the energy density requirements for the Alcubierre distortion metric,” the researchers write.

They then tested a miniature model, taking the shape of a 1 μm diameter sphere at the heart of a 4 μm diameter cylinder, to demonstrate a three-dimensional Casimir energy density that corresponds well to the distortion metric requirements. of Alcubierre. “This qualitative correlation suggests that chip-scale experiments could be explored to try to measure small signatures that illustrate the presence of the conjectured phenomenon: a genuine, albeit humble, warp bubble,” they conclude.

A stepping stone to designing a warp spaceship

“To my knowledge, this is the first article in the peer-reviewed literature that proposes a viable nanostructure, which is predicted to manifest a true warp bubble,” White told The Debrief. According to him, this discovery not only confirms the predicted toroidal structure and negative energy aspects of a warp bubble, but also provides new potential clues that he and other researchers can follow to, perhaps one day, successfully build a capable spacecraft to deform the real world.

“This is a potential structure that we can provide to the community that could generate a negative vacuum energy density distribution very similar to that required for an Alcubierre-type spatial distortion,” explained White. The team has yet to build a nanoscale warp ship, but they would likely have the means to do so. “If the LSI team ever tackled this, we would probably use a GT nanoscribe 3D printer that prints at the nano-scale,” White said, adding that he and his colleagues are currently concentrating exclusively on Casimir’s custom cavities.

However, White and his team also devised a second testable experiment, which involves stringing together several of these distortion bubbles created by Casimir in a chain configuration. According to him, this design would allow researchers to better understand the physics of the already created warp bubble structure (through analysis of optical properties), as well as how a spacecraft might one day travel through real space in it. . a bubble. “By adding a lot of them in a row, we can increase the magnitude of the effect so that we can see (and study) it,” he added.

Given the scale of this discovery and its potential implications, White believes it is only a matter of time before his mini warp ship is designed and tested, a milestone that he claims will slowly but steadily advance the entire process toward the ultimate goal: a spaceships with warp capability.

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