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The Debrief just reported that DARPA just "accidentally" created the world's first warp bubble. The actual paper is available here.

My layman understanding is that warp drives were so far only theoretical because they require the existence and acquisition of exotic matter and negative energy density. However, they're saying that it's the real deal, not just an analogue.

The report only makes a vague statement mentioning the Casimir effect, but I'm not sure how it allows to create a warp bubble. So how does it work?

Urb
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Ruslan Oblov
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1 Answers1

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This is another case of the popular media sensationalizing a result almost beyond recognition. If you read the paper, you'll see that they were modeling a Casimir vacuum on a computer, so they didn't physically create anything. It also seems that the structure they observed in the model is reminiscent of or suggestive of a warp bubble, but a similarity in structure between two mathematical objects is by no means proof that a real physical warp bubble can be created in this way. So the study is intriguing but not at all as exciting as the popular account would suggest.

Eric Smith
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  • That sounds disappointing, especially after they explicitly stated that it's a real warp bubble and not just an analogue. – Ruslan Oblov Dec 09 '21 at 08:41
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    "Scientists working on computer model simulate micron-scale region with negative energy density which may or may not correspond to reality" sells a lot fewer clicks than "Scientists accidentally discover Warp Drive", and there's no method for the public to sue a news outlet for libel over telling preposterous lies that don't directly hurt anyone. – g s Dec 12 '21 at 22:04
  • The mis-reporting of science in the press is an interesting if annoying topic in itself. I recall the fool who wrote in the NY Times that Goddard was wrong about using rockets for space flight. It's guys like him and his editor that made me think I could be a writer (or editor) of the NY Times which aint happened yet but we'll see. I am sure there are hundreds of examples of physics especially being explained wrongly. I guess Youtube is a great place to find such videos. – releseabe Jan 19 '23 at 22:27