Related papers: Weak energy condition violation and superluminal t…
I investigate the relationship between faster-than-light travel and weak-energy-condition violation, i.e., negative energy densities. In a general spacetime it is difficult to define faster-than-light travel, and I give an example of a…
In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre proposed that the well-known special relativistic limitation that particles cannot travel with velocities higher than light speed can be bypassed when such trips are considered globally within specific general…
We argue that ``effective'' superluminal travel, potentially caused by the tipping over of light cones in Einstein gravity, is always associated with violations of the null energy condition (NEC). This is most easily seen by working…
Solitons in space-time capable of transporting time-like observers at superluminal speeds have long been tied to violations of the weak, strong, and dominant energy conditions of general relativity. This trend was recently broken by a new…
A class of spacetimes (comprising the Alcubierre bubble, Krasnikov tube, and a certain type of wormholes) is considered that admits `superluminal travel' in a strictly defined sense. Such spacetimes (they are called `shortcuts' in this…
We argue that ``effective'' superluminal travel, potentially caused by the tipping over of light cones in Einstein gravity, is always associated with violations of the null energy condition (NEC). This is most easily seen by working…
In this talk I discuss pertinence of the wormholes to the problem of circumventing the light speed barrier and present a specific class of wormholes. The wormholes of this class are static and have arbitrarily wide throats, which makes them…
The Alcubierre warp drive metric is a spacetime construction where a massive particle located inside a spacetime distortion, called warp bubble, travels at velocities arbitrarily higher than the velocity of light. This theoretically…
Warp drives in Einstein's general theory of relativity provide a unique mechanism for manned interstellar travel. It is well-known that the classical superluminal soliton spacetimes require negative energy densities, likely sourced by…
Alcubierre proposed in 1994 that the well known special relativistic limitation that particles cannot travel with velocities bigger than the light speed can be bypassed when such trips are considered globally within specific general…
"Warp drive" spacetimes and wormhole geometries are useful as "gedanken-experiments" that force us to confront the foundations of general relativity, and among other issues, to precisely formulate the notion of "superluminal" travel and…
Warp drive spacetimes capable of superluminal transportation, were first introduced in 1994 by Miguel Alcubierre and then generalized by others. These spacetimes violated the Weak Energy Condition (WEC). Lentz proposed a new type of warp…
This essay reviews some of the recent progress in the area of energy conditions and wormholes. Most of the discussion centers on the subject of ``quantum inequality'' restrictions on negative energy. These are bounds on the magnitude and…
The question of whether it is possible or not to surpass the speed of light is already centennial. The special theory of relativity took the existence of a speed limit as a principle, the light postulate, which has proven to be enormously…
In light of the recent results from the OPERA collaboration, indicating that neutrinos can travel superluminally, I review a simple extra-dimensional strategy for accommodating such behavior; and I also explain why it is hard in this…
Warp-drives are solutions of general relativity widely considered unphysical due to high negative energy requirements. While the majority of the literature has focused on macroscopic solutions towards the goal of interstellar travel, in…
Recent experiments have led to the production of neutrinos with transit times indicating the appearance of traveling faster than the speed of light. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework to understand how faster-than-light events…
''Warp drive'' spacetimes are useful as ''gedanken-experiments'' and as a theoretician's probe of the foundations of general relativity. Applying linearized gravity to the weak-field warp drive, i.e., for non-relativistic warp-bubble…
A design of a configuration for violation of the averaged null energy condition (ANEC) and consequently other classic energy conditions (CECs), is presented. The methods of producing effective exotic matter (EM) for a traversable wormhole…
Recently a bound on negative energy densities in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime was derived for a minimally coupled, quantized, massless, scalar field in an arbitrary quantum state. The bound has the form of an uncertainty…