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Warp Drive: A New Approach
Richard K Obousy and Gerald Cleaver
Baylor University, Waco, Texas, 76706, USA
(Dated: December 16, 2007)Certain classes of higher dimensional models suggest that the Casimir effect is a candidate forthe cosmological constant. In this paper we demonstrate that a sufficiently advanced civilizationcould, in principal, manipulate the radius of the extra dimension to locally adjust the value of thecosmological 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 thatspacetime expansion itself is not restricted by relativity, a faster-than-light ‘warp drive’ could becreated. 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.
I. INTRODUCTION
A 1994 paper written by M. Alcubierre [2] demon-strated that, within the framework of general relativity,a modification of spacetime could be created that wouldallow a spacecraft to travel with arbitrarily large speeds.In a manner identical to the inflationary stage of the uni-verse, the spacecraft would have a relative speed, definedas change of proper spatial distance over proper spatialtime, faster than the speed of light. Since the originalpaper, numerous authors have investigated and built onthe original work of Alcubierre.Warp drives provide an unique and inspiring opportu-nity to ask the question ‘what constraints do the laws of physics place on the abilities of an arbitrarily advancedcivilization’[22]. They also serve as a tool for teachinggeneral relativity, as well as an exciting way to attractyoung students to the field by stimulating their imagina-tion. In this paper an original mechanism to generate thenecessary ‘warp bubble’ is proposed. The main focus of the paper is to demonstrate that the manipulation of theradius of one, or more, of the extra dimensions found inhigher dimensional quantum gravity theories, especiallythose that are based on or inspired by string/M-theory,creates a
local
asymmetry in the cosmological constantwhich could be used to propel a space vehicle.Warp drives have not been the sole interest of theo-retical physicists as was demonstrated by the formationof the NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Program and theBritish Aerospace Project Greenglow, both of whose pur-pose was to investigate and expand on these ideas regard-ing exotic field propulsion.At such an early stage in the theoretical developmentof the ideas presented in this paper, it is challenging tomake predictions on how this ‘warp drive’ might func-tion. Naively one could envision a spacecraft with anexotic power generator that could create the necessaryenergies to locally manipulate the extra dimension(s). Inthis way, an advanced spacecraft would expand/contract
∗
the compactified spacetime around it, thereby creatingthe propulsion effect.The first four sections of this paper review the neces-sary physics required to appreciate the new warp drivemodel. The remainder of the paper will introduce thepropulsion concept. Calculations regarding speed limitsand energy requirements will also be presented.
II. THE COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT ANDQUANTUM FIELD THEORY
Current observations of distant supernova [12] indi-cate that the universe is expanding. This expansion isrealized in Einstein’s equations .
R
µν
−
12
Rg
µν
= 8
πGT
µν
−
Λ
g
µν
(1)through the cosmological constant term, Λ This‘Lambda’ term, as it is known, provides a necessary ad-dition to the gravitational field to correlate with what isobserved in nature.The fundamental origin of Lambda is still a mysterynearly a century after its introduction into cosmology.Physicists are not certain
what
generates the cosmologi-cal constant term in Einstein’s equations; we simply knowthat it is there. Several ideas exist as to the nature of this field. Dark energy, for example, is a popular contem-porary phrase for the Lambda term. Efforts have beenmade to explain the cosmologicalconstant using the moremodern quantum field theory, created after Einstein andhis gravitational equations [7].Quantum field theory (QFT) is widely regarded as oneof the most, if not
the
most, successful physical theoriesof all time. Its predictions have been verified in particleaccelerators; no experiment has ever shown a result thatcontradicts QFT. It would thus seem only natural to tryto account for the cosmological constant using QFT. Thecalculations [8] are based on summing all the zero pointoscillations with a Planck scale cut-off which would giveus an estimate to the overallvacuum energy density
E
vac
.
E
vac
=12
M
0
d
3
k
(2
π
)
3
k
2
+
m
2
≈
M
4
16
π
2
(2)
2The energy density predicted using this equation isof order 10
71
(
GeV
)
4
, which conflicts with the observedvalue of 10
−
48
(
GeV
)
4
. Indeed, this is genererally viewedas, by far, the worst predication of theoretical physics-being off by a factor of 10
119
! This failure of quantumtheory has recently been reexamined using brane worldscenarios born of string theory [11], [5], [14], [1], [10], [24].One (partial) fix to the vacuum energy calculations isthe introduction of supersymmetry (SUSY). The basicidea is that all known particles have an associated su-perparticle whose spin differs by exactly one half (in
units). In the case of unbroken SUSY, i.e., when particleand supersymmetric partner have exactly equal masses,the superparticle additions to the vacuum energy per-fectly cancel the particle contributions and the result-ing vacuum energy is reduced to zero. However, whenSUSY is broken and the difference of the particle massand the supersymmetric partner mass is on a scale of
M
S
≈
10
4
GeV
, then the resulting vacuum energy ison the order (
M
S
)
4
≈
10
16
GeV
and the discrepancy is(only) off by a factor of 10
60
! In this paper we assumethat even the SUSY-breaking contribution is somehowcancelled and that all contributions to the vacuum en-ergy density are higher dimensional.
III. KALUZA KLEIN MODELS
Kaluza-Klein (KK) theory was an early attempt tounify gravitationwith electromagnetism. Kaluza initiallypostulated that a fifth spatial dimension could be intro-duced into Einstein’s equations [16]. When the equationswere solved the additional dimension would generate notonly the standard metric, but also a vector field
A
µ
thatcould be associated with the electromagnetic field and ascalar field
φ
. Kaluza’s starting point was the metric:˜
g
˜
µ
˜
ν
=
g
µν
−
φA
µ
A
ν
−
φA
µ
−
φA
ν
−
φ
(3)Where
µ
and
ν
run over 0,1,2,3 and the tilde quantitesrun over 0,1,2,3,5.
A
µ
and
A
ν
are vector fields and
φ
is ascalar field. Now start with a source free spacetime (pure-gravity) in five dimensions. The corresponding action of the system is
S
5
=
−
d
5
x
˜
g
˜
R
(4)Where ˜
g
is the five dimensional determinant of the metricand˜
R
is the five dimensional Ricci Scalar. After integrat-ing out the extra dimension and performing a conformalrescaling of the metric
g
µν
→√
φg
µν
, it is trivial to showthat the four dimensional action can be written as:
S
=
d
4
x
√
g
(
−
R
+12
∂
µ
φ∂
ν
−
14
e
−√
3
φ
F
µν
F
µν
) (5)From this action we retrieve the spin-2 graviton, thespin-1 photon and discover a spin-0 scalar field. This in-deed was a success in unifying gravity with electromag-netism. However the unexpected existence of the scalarfield was an embarrassment at the time. This stimulatedlater work on Brans-Dicke theories of gravity where thescalar field has the physical effect of changing the effec-tive gravitational constant from place to place.Kaluza’s idea suffered from a very obvious drawback.If there is a fifth dimension, where is it? In 1926 OskarKlein suggested that the fifth dimension compactifies soas to have the geometry of a circle of extremely smallradius [18]. Thus, the space has topology
R
4
×
S
1
. Oneway to envisage this spacetime is to imagine a hosepipe.From a long distance it looks like a one dimensional linebut a closer inspection reveals that evey point on the lineis in fact a circle.
IV. EXTRA DIMENSIONS AND THE CASIMIREFFECT
The Casimir effect is one of the most salient manifes-tations of the vacuum fluctuations. In its most elemen-tary form, it is the interaction of a pair of neutral, paral-lel conducting planes whose existence modify the groundstate of the quantum vacuum in the interior portion of the plates creating a force which attracts the plates toeach other. For the electromagnetic field, this force of attraction is:
F
=
−
πA
480
hca
4
(6)where A is the area of the plates, h is Planck’sconstant,c is the speed of light and a is the plate separation. Fora review on the Casimir effect see [21].The Casimir effect can be extended to regions of non-trivial topology. For example, on
S
1
, a circular manifold,one can associate 0 and 2
π
with the location of the platesand the Casimir energy can be calculated. This becomesrelevant when we consider models with additional spatialdimensions.Two models with extra dimensions have becomeparticularly popular in recent years. These are theArkani-Hamed-Dimopoulos-Dvali (ADD) [3], [4] and theRandall-Sundrum (RS) models [22]. Both are attemptsto explain what has become known as a heirachy prob-lem in physics, which questions why the gravitationalforce is so much weaker than the other forces of nature.In the ADD model it is proposed that the force carriersof the standard model (the photon,
W
+
,
W
−
,
Z
0
andthe gluons) are constrained to exist on the usual four di-mensional spacetime, which we will call the
bulk
. Gravityhowever, is free to move both in the bulk and in the ex-tra dimensions. These dimensions can be as large as
µm
3[17].Because only gravity can propagatein the extra dimen-sions, we cannot ‘see’ them as we see in the bulk throughthe electromagnetic field (light), nor can we observe themthrough weak or strong force interactions, which are alsorestricted to the bulk. It is the freedom of the gravitonto propagate off of the bulk that dilutes the field strengthaccounting for the apparent weakness of gravity. In theRS models, it is the warping of the extra dimension thatis the root cause of the weakness of gravity.In both the ADD and RS models one can account forthe cosmological constant by calculating the contributionof extra dimensional graviton fields to the Casimir energyand then associating this energy with the cosmologicalconstant [11]. As an example we will demonstrate a cal-culation of the vacuum energy due to compactification inthe ADD scenario in which the spacetime orbifold will be
M
4
×
T
2
. Matter fields will reside on the 3-brane (ouruniverse) and gravity is free to propagate in the bulk.The calculations closely follow [15].The four dimensional vacuum energy is given by:
E
vac
=
∞
n
1
,n
2=1
12
d
3
k
(2
π
)
3
k
2
+4
π
2
(
n
21
+
n
22
)
R
2
(7)Where R is the radius of the extra dimensions and
n
1
and
n
2
are the KK (Kaluza Klein) graviton modes. Wewill now perform dimensional regularization on the kintegral by first rewriting it as:
I
(
m
n
) =
µ
2
ǫ
d
3
k
(2
π
)
3
k
2
+
m
2
n
12
−
ǫ
(8)Where we have made the substitution,
m
2
n
=
4
π
2
(
n
21
+
n
22
)
R
2
. The
µ
term is inserted for dimensional con-sistency and
ǫ
will be taken to zero. The integral can beexpressed as a beta function which can be expanded to:
I
(
m
n
) =
−
m
4
n
32
π
2
1
ǫ
+ 2
log
2
−
12
−
log
(
m
2
n
µ
2
)
(9)The vacuum energy can thus be expressed as:
E
vac
=
−
132
π
2
∞
n
1
,n
2=1
m
4
n
1
ǫ
+ 2
log
2
−
12
−
log
(
m
2
n
µ
2
)
(10)The summation is clearly divergent so we next use azeta function regularization.
∞
n
1
,n
2=1
m
4
n
=
4
πR
2
2
∞
n
1
,n
2=1
(
n
41
+
n
42
+
n
21
n
22
) (11)=
4
πR
2
2
2
ζ
(0)
ζ
(
−
4) +
ζ
2
(
−
2
(12)Using the fact that
ζ
(
−
2
m
) = 0, for m any naturalnumber, we obtain the vacuum energy:
E
vac
4+2
=132
π
2
∞
n
1
,n
2=1
m
4
n
log
(
m
2
n
µ
2
) (13)=
π
2
R
4
∞
n
1
,n
2=1
(
n
21
+
n
22
)
2
log
(
n
21
+
n
22
) (14)=
−
π
2
R
4
ζ
(0)
ζ
′
(4) (15)This result can be generalized to 4+n dimensions
E
vac
=
−
π
2
R
4
(2 +
n
)(3 +
n
)2
−
1
[
ζ
(0)]
n
−
1
ζ
′
(4)(16)where the graviton degrees of freedom is expressed inthe brackets. This vacuum energy due to the massiveKK modes is associated with the cosmological constant.
V. WARP DRIVES
Numerous papers discussing the idea of warp driveshave emerged in the literature in recent years. See forexample [19]. The basic idea is to formulate a solutionto Einstein’s equations whereby a warp bubble is drivenby a local expansion of spacetime behind the bubble anda contraction ahead of the bubble. One common featureof these papers is that their physical foundation is theGeneral Theory of Relativity. An element missing fromall the papers is that there is little or no suggestion as to
how
such a warp bubble may be created.The aim of this paper is
not
to discuss the plausibil-ity of warp drive, the questions associated with violationof the null energy condition, or issues regarding causal-ity. The aim of this paper is to suggest that a warpbubble could be generated using ideas and mathematicsfrom
quantum field theory
, and to hypothesize
how
sucha bubble could be created by a sufficiently advanced tech-nology.By associating the cosmological constant with theCasimir Energy due to the Kaluza Klein modes of gravi-tons in higher dimensions, especially in the context of M-theory derived or inspired models, it is possible to forma relationship between Λ and the radius of the compactextra dimension. We know from eqn.(16)
E
vac
= Λ
∝
1
R
4
(17)An easier way of developing this relationship is to putthings in terms of Hubble’s constant H which describesthe rate of expansion of space per unit distance of space.
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