Reactionless Drives

Reactionless Drives

Although extensive hypotheses and theoretical explanations regarding the operating principles of transapient “reactionless” drives have appeared on and off ever since the drives were first observed in action (the oldest known attempt itself has not as yet been conclusively dated, but probably originating on the Known Net DateTimenull/10000), in recent times a particularly strident hive or group of researchers of unknown clade uploaded to the Known Net DateTime2.345E6/10499 a lengthy series of reports written in archaic scientific notation from the Martian Genobiology and Mining University access point.

This series of reports contains purported research calculations, experimental evidence, and sensoria of thought-exchanges with a number of archai spanning a substantial stretch of modern history; nearly 5 millennia or so if internal consistency correlated with known events is accepted.

Of particular note in recent times is the generation of a new meme directly traceable from these publications, the Void Bubble. Current experts on retainer to the Encyclopedia demur as to the accuracy of some of the scientific postulates referenced in the paper explicating this concept, but no specific objections have been delineated to the Review Board, and none of the independent researchers involved in the appropriate disciplines accessible to the Review finds fault in the basic physical principles as explained. Therefore, as an interesting insight into recent memetic propagation, as well as a point of reference to current conspiracy memesets (not articulated here, but the Board duly notes the existence of these alternative viewpoints) this material has been approved for inclusion, although it must be considered to be more speculative than the normative Encyclopedia Galactica article.

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The concept of a warp drive has a long, illustrious history – longer even than that of wormholes. Unlike wormholes, however, the existence and engineering practicality of warp drives has never been demonstrated -- until now.
<filterengaged: transapient craft sightings && newmeme:Void Bubble>

Whatever the case, the observance of transapient reactionless drive vessels provides empirical confirmation that such technologies exist, and are being withheld from general use.
<filterengaged: memeset:ConspiracyTheory>

The theory behind a warp drive was first explained in the Interplanetary Era by M. Alcubierre, with refinements by J. Natario and others, to the extent that the historical literature of the times generally refers to warp devices as Alcubierre or Natario drives. I will continue this tradition in the interest of historical continuity and to reduce the memetic shock of the interested audience in the references of the ancient papers.

The basic concept of the warp drive is, as expected, congruent with basic space-time engineering principles. A metric is engineered so as to provide continual contraction in front of the warp bubble and expansion behind it, with the result that the asymptotically flat space-time contained by the bubble is propelled at an effective velocity given by the constraints of the metric.

"The warp drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity", M. Alcubierre
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/0009/0009013.pdf

The Natario version adds the crucial distinction of contracting space-time in the radial direction while expanding it in the axial direction, with the important difference that there is no perceptible warp.

"Warp drive with zero expansion", J. Natario
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/9907/9907026.pdf

The metric engineering difficulties in this technique are more pronounced than in wormholes, because they are by nature dynamical, with an inherently unstable metric, in contrast to the saddle-point nature of wormhole space-times, which are statically and dynamically stable. This simple difference, along with memetic manipulation by the archai, has held back baseline progress in the understanding of reactionless drives.

Like wormholes, warp drives require negative stress energy tensor fields to maintain the warp drive. For both examples above, the amount of negative stress energy required is given by a simple semi classical General Relativistic calculation to be:

E = -1/12*v^2*(R/delta + delta/12)

where v = warp bubble velocity, R = warp bubble radius, and delta = warp bubble thickness

Normally, quantum inequality restrictions on warp bubble thickness alone generate unrealistically large amounts of negative stress-energy needed for construction.

"The unphysical nature of Warp Drive", M. Pfenning, L. Ford
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/9702/9702026.pdf

However, there are two classical techniques for reducing the amount of negative stress-energy to tractable amounts that can be handled by modern wormhole stabilization technology. The first is to engineer the metric to contain a lapse function, the so-called ESAA (Ex Somnium Ad Astra) metric:

"Reduced total energy requirements for a modified Alcubierre warp drive spacetime", F. Loup, D. Waite, E. Halerewicz
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/0107/0107097.pdf

The ESAA metric gives the new warp bubble thickness as:

delta <= 10^2(v/c)l A0

where v = warp bubble velocity, l = Planck length, and A is the minimal lapse function in the ESAA metric. Increasing the warp bubble thickness decreases the amount of negative stress-energy, as seen in the previous equation.

The second technique is to minimize the volume of the warp bubble. A double warp metric is created: an external, microscopic metric which reduces the volume of the bubble, and an internal warp metric which increases the internal volume. Thus, picometer-sized warp bubbles are created with internal volumes on the order of 10's of meters.

"A warp drive with more reasonable total energy requirements", C. Van Den Broeck
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/9905/9905084.pdf

However, even such “efficient” warp bubble effects still appear to require the use of massive external generation facilities and multi-solar mass instrumentalities to create them (although the associated drive node stabilization and control devices appear to be quite compact, perhaps only a few meters across at most).

Deduced implementations of warp drive nodes are as follows:

Drive nodes consisting of extremely dense matter (monopolium grade or higher) are enclosed inside a double ESAA metric using transapient technology. Due to metric engineering constraints, each node must contain its entire fuel supply; when the node runs out of energy, it will be unable to maintain the metric.  Nor can a node activate a metric by itself or reactivate one once it has been turned off.   Detailed analysis indicates probable monopolium picotech construction with monopole-catalyzed fusion and a compressed baryonic fuel source. No node defueling/de-warping signature events have ever been observed on observation time garnered on the Argus array -- it is possible that a further transapient technology for inter-converting monopoles with baryons may exist, allowing the drive node to be completely expended.  There is also evidence that in some cases a low mass singularity may be enclosed within the bubble and used to power the drive node via Hawking decay.  There are also some indications that some form of wormhole based refueling process may be employed in sufficiently energetic environments.

Drive nodes are constructed in either the Alcubierre or Natario configuration: in either case, the nanoscopic nodes are linked back to the main vessel via electromagnetic fields. Due to warp metric configuration, Alcubierre nodes must always be perpendicular to the vessel and the direction of motion to achieve full thrust capability. Natario nodes must be parallel.

Although the warp motion itself is inertialess, the electromagnetic coupling between the nodes and ship is not, so the warp drive can best be described as reactionless, rather than inertialess. Furthermore, even with transapient technology it appears that the thrust per node requires many nodes to be used to achieve decent interplanetary velocity. Control/feedback issues of the nacelles are somewhat complicated by general relativistic effects, but the issue appears to be ontologically (and empirically) tractable:

"Null geodesics in the Alcubierre warp drive spacetime: the view from the bridge", C. Clark, W. Hiscock, S. Larson
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/9907/9907019.pdf

A reasonable, engineered metric can generate apparent velocities at greater than the speed of light, while still maintaining a causally connected interaction region, at the cost of introducing Closed Timelike Curves within the warp metric. As current theory precludes the existence of CTCs, practical warp bubbles are limited to v < c.

"On the warp drive space-time", P. Gonzalez-Diaz
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/9907/9907026.pdf

However, in light of the historical memetic engineering by the Archai around this topic, I cannot for certain rule out the possibility that some Archai may, in fact, possess conveyances capable of effective faster than light travel. But the evidence on this issue is notoriously lacking, in contrast to the plentiful proof of the existence and usage of warp bubble drive vessels. 

Based on the above information and observations of the major classes of reactionless drive systems we may conclude that the transapients have both developed warp bubble technology and also refined it to a level beyond even that theorized by early thinkers.  To delineate the actual warp systems observed in reality from the theoretical constructs of past researchers I wish to coin the term “Void Bubble” to designate the warp bubble based technologies that I shall describe below.  In the following sections we shall examine each of the major classes of reactionless drive systems and see how Void Bubble technology is employed by each of them:

 ======================

Displacement Drive: 

In the Displacement drive configuration, void bubble based drive nodes, operating in either the Alcubierre or Natario configuration, are enclosed within one or more magnetic containment vessels aboard the ship.  The drive nodes are magnetically linked to the vessel within the containment volumes and react against it as they move, effectively pushing or pulling the ship across space with no ejection of reaction mass. 

Displacement drive vessels use void bubble based drive nodes which are enclosed within the ship

Such drives appear to first become available to transapients at the Fourth Singularity level although they are subsequently used by all higher S-levels to varying degrees and for various applications.  Although Displacement drives allow continuous accelerations without the use of reaction mass, they provide no protection against acceleration forces and are limited in their performance by the robustness of their cargo and passengers.

 ===============

In the Halo drive, the number of void bubble nodes is increased substantially. Drive nodes operate external to the vessel itself and may be employed in two possible configurations: 

Class I: A Class I Halo drive deploys a cloud of drive nodes around the actual craft being propelled and uses magnetic coupling to attach the drive nodes to the vessel itself.  When the nodes move, the vessel is pulled across space.  Generally a greater number of nodes are employed and higher accelerations are possible.  However, as with the Displacement drive a Class I configured Halo drive does not protect against acceleration forces. 

Class II: A Class II Halo drive employs an even greater number of drive nodes than a Class I drive and utilizes more massive nodes than either a Displacement or Class I drive.  Like the Class I system a Class II drive links its drive nodes to the associated craft using magnetic fields.  However, it also links the nodes gravitationally, positioning them much closer to the hull of the ship than is normally done in a Class I configuration and employing more dynamic control systems.  As the Halo vessel is accelerated by its associated drive nodes it is also moved into closer proximity with them, effectively balancing the inertial acceleration of the moving nodes with the gravitational acceleration created by their mass.  In effect the ship ‘falls’ toward the drive nodes, which move away from the ship at an equal or near equal rate of acceleration.  This permits the passengers and cargo aboard a Class II Halo vessel to experience only moderate accelerations, or even free-fall conditions, even if the ship is accelerating at tens or hundreds of gravities.  

Halo drives decelerate their associated vessels by reconfiguring their drive nodes from the front to the rear of the ship and reversing the process used to provide acceleration. 

It appears that only Fifth Singularity minds and above can create practical Halo drive systems.  There is also some evidence that suggests that Fifth Singularity drive nodes can be deactivated in a semi-controlled manner sufficient to permit the survival and reuse of the node mechanisms, or even hardened instrument packages carried within the Void metric. 

====================

Of all the transapient created reactionless drives, the Void Drive is by far the rarest and most elusive, and perhaps the most capable.  Even in this author’s experience, despite extensive and exhaustive exploration and research, as well as numerous interviews with various high level transapient powers; actually observing the rumored ‘Void Drive’ in operation has not been possible.  However, the substantial body of anecdotal evidence, including reports dating from both the Consolidation and Version Wars, interviews with known credible witnesses, and most importantly a one-time flyby visit of an associated agent to a so-called ‘Valhalla Cluster’ transapient manufacturing center five centuries ago lead us to conclude that such a drive (and its associated technologies) both exists and likely operates on the principles outlined below. 

Void drives appear to operate on the same basic principle of the generation and manipulation of void bubble warps as is employed by the Displacement and Halo drive systems.  However, the void bubbles involved are at least an order of magnitude larger in their internal volume.  In the case of a Void drive, it appears that rather than being propelled by a swarm of Void bubbles external to itself, a vessel or group of vessels is instead completely enclosed in a single large Void bubble which is then manipulated to accelerate itself and everything within it up to a high percentage of the speed of light in a matter of seconds or less.  When the bubble and its enclosed cargo reach its destination, the bubble is deactivated in a controlled manner and the associated vessels or devices carried inside are released into space at the destination point.  Due to the flat space nature of the metric within the warp boundary, objects carried within the Void bubble experience neither acceleration forces nor time dilation and Lorentz contraction effects (which may be seen as a limitation on the technology of Void bubbles as a whole). 

As a final note, I wish to personally corroborate recent sightings of so-called Black Angels, which appear to exist as a direct instrument of Transapient authority. My observations of Black Angels suggest that they employ tens of thousands or millions of Void bubble nodes, which would give them reactionless, relativistic capability, and imply that the bulk of a Black Angel is invisible except to gravitational instrumentation. Their military capabilities are correspondingly +++

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