Moving with the speed of light?

With the new movie 'Star Trek' being released in many countries, one thing that spectators are sure to enjoy is that the spacecraft moves through the galaxy at the speed of light. But does moving at the speed of light come true?

Two Baylor University physicists believe they have an idea that can turn movement at the speed of light from fiction to science, and this idea doesn't break any physical laws.

Dr. Gerald Cleaver, Baylor professor of physics, and Dr. Richard Obousy, a postdoctoral fellow, hypothesize that by manipulating the dimensions of space - the time around the spacecraft with an amount of energy Huge quantities can create a 'bubble' that pushes the spacecraft faster than the speed of light. To create this bubble, Bayor physicists believe that 11-dimensional control can produce dark energy. Cleaver says positive dark energy is responsible for speeding up the universe as time passes, like after the Big Bang, when the universe expands faster than the speed of light.

Cleaver, co-author with Obousy about this new method, said: 'It's like a surfer riding on a wave. Spacecraft is propelled by bubbles, and this bubble moves faster than the speed of light '.

Will it become true to move at the speed of light to the stars in the universe?(Photo: iStockphoto / Heidi Kristensen)

This method is based on the Alcubierre theory, which suggests that expanding the space structure behind the spacecraft into a bubble and making space - the time before the spacecraft shrinks. The ship does not actually move, but lies between the dimensions of space - time to expand, and shrinks. Because space will move around the spacecraft, this hypothesis does not violate Einstein's Theory of Relativity, assuming an infinite amount of energy is needed to propel an object at a faster rate than light.

String theory holds that the universe was formed from many dimensions. High, wide and long are three-dimensional, and time is the fourth dimension. Scientists believe that there are 10 dimensions in total, with 6 dimensions we are still not aware of. A new theory, called M theory, takes string theory one step further and states that there are actually 11 dimensions. This 11th afternoon is the element that helps the universe to move at the speed of light.

Baylor physicists estimate that the amount of energy needed to affect this 11th dimension is equal to the mass of Jupiter transformed into energy.

Cleaver said: 'This is a huge amount of energy. We are still very far before we can create such a form of energy. '

The article appeared recently in the British Interplanetary Society magazine.

References:
Richard K. Obousy and Gerald Cleaver.Warp Drive: A New Approach.Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, September 2008 [link]