A new study by physicist Erik Lentz from Göttingen University in Germany has suggested that we may be able to move faster than the speed-of-light. It has long been held by physicists that nothing in the universe can move faster than the speed of light, but this view is challenged by this new study.
While the study accepts that no object can move faster than the speed of light, it suggests that space-time itself has no such limitations. In fact, the universe, made up of space-time, is itself expanding faster than the speed of light.
What this means is that if space-time could be bent, we would be able to travel for point A to point B faster than light-speed. In order to do this, what would be required is creating an energy with a density lower than the emptiness of space, so called 'negative-energy'.
This sort of negative energy occurs at the quantum level but nothing on the macro-scale has ever been shown to do this.
Other similar proposals for travelling at warp-speed have been made before. These include using wormholes to travel from point A to point B at a faster than light speed or creating an 'Alcubierre warp drive' that could wrap around a spacecraft to make it travel faster than the speed of light. In both of these scenarios, it is claimed that the laws of physics as we know them are not violated.
One thing holding back Lentz's ideas is that for them to ever be tested they would require a huge amount of energy.
"The energy required for this drive traveling at light speed encompassing a spacecraft of 100 meters in radius is on the order of hundreds of times of the mass of the planet Jupiter. The energy savings would need to be drastic, of approximately 30 orders of magnitude to be in range of modern nuclear fission reactors."
Another independent study published earlier this month has roughly the same ideas of Lentz, however, this team believe that it could be possible to obtain warp-speed without the need for negative energy. Both teams are now in contact with one another and are sharing their hypotheses.
Lentz said of his study:
"This work has moved the problem of faster-than-light travel one step away from theoretical research in fundamental physics and closer to engineering. The next step is to figure out how to bring down the astronomical amount of energy needed to within the range of today's technologies, such as a large modern nuclear fission power plant. Then we can talk about building the first prototypes."
[h/t: Science Alert]
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