The science of the Future Chron Universe is important to the stories. Without these extrapolations from current science or possible science the 33 individual stories in the universe would not exist.
This page will link to concepts of that science. Although arranged in alphabetical order for easy reference, it may be necessary to refer to later entries to understand former.
ARTIFICIAL GENERAL INTELLIGENCE (AGI or Aggie)
ARTIFICIAL NARROW INTELLIGENCE (ANI or Annie)
CASIMIR DEVICE
(See Quantum Entanglement Detector)
EMULATED BRAINS (Ems or Emmies)
FUSION ENGINE
The flow of Helium 3 and deuterium increased quickly into the confinement area of the fusion rocket. In a magnetic field ten-thousand times the strength of the Earth's magnetic field, for a brief moment a Helium 3 and deuterium nucleus approached to within one-trillionth of a meter of each other and fused. The release of the energy from billions of such encounters occurring at over one-hundred million degrees Kelvin, over six times greater than the core of the Sun, soon had increased the thrust of the rocket.
Injecting hydrogen into the mix would again increase the exhaust thrust and speed of the ship if it didn't destabilize the plasma containment.
FUSION SPACESHIPS
Fusion spaceships are the primary means of space transport since the twenty-first century. The latest fourth-plus generation model is capable of a top velocity of two-tenths the speed of light.
For long voyages most fusion ships have a rotating life-support wheel usually located a third of the way from the front of the vessel. The wheel section of a fusion ship provides the artificial gravity which makes the performance of most mundane everyday chores, such as eating, sleeping and cleaning, much easier to accomplish. It also provides for the health and muscle-tone of the crew although medical research has made that benefit redundant with new discoveries.
The wheel section of most fusion ships consists of the crew quarters or apartments on the second floor. This floor also includes a cafeteria, workout room, theater, and assembly area. The first floor, the outer part of the wheel, is used as an aeroponic's garden (a method of growing plants in which the roots are exposed and misted with water and nutrients) to grow food on long voyages. The third floor is usually where supplies and equipment are kept. Each level typically has over fifty-thousand square feet of floor space.
At seven hundred feet in diameter and rotating at one point-eight revolutions a minute the artificial gravity created is about four-tenths Earth gravity. The outer surface of the big wheel is moving at over seventy kilometers per hour.
Crew quarters are four hundred square feet each, and seem even roomier than their square footage would suggest. Three rooms included a ten by twenty living room-kitchen, a ten by twelve bedroom and an eight by ten bathroom. The kitchen includes a small fridge and food processing center.
At three thousand feet in length the fusion ships are some of the largest spaceships in existence. The spine of the ship is made of interlinked girders of a carbon composite that is strong but flexible. The composite is wrapped in a particle shield, inside of which is an x-ray shield. This design prevents most fast-moving interstellar particles from impacting the frame and weakening it over time. Closer to the fusion engines it also prevents any radiation damage. At the front is another massive particle shield to deflect particles when the ship is at speed. A magnetic field generator complements the particle shield by turning away charged particles.
The fourth-plus generation ship's engines use the deuterium helium-3 fusion reaction. The advantage of this reaction is the large amount of energy it produces with an absence of neutrons. The lack of neutrons allow a much longer engine life due to the reduced materials damage and activation levels (radioactivity) when compared to other fusion reactions. In the fourth generation-plus engine the loss of efficiency to neutron and x-ray emissions is almost nil.
Even though the fusion engines are aneutronic they still can give off some radiation, mostly in the form of various fast-moving particles or gamma rays. These collide with the reactor shielding leaving only soft x-rays. But even with this lesser radiation a crew member would not want to remain in their vicinity too long.
The tanks containing the deuterium oxide pellets are located at the back of the ship just in front of the engines on the left. The tanks containing helium-3 gas are similarly located on the right.
During the four-tenths Earth gravity acceleration and deceleration phases of a journey the wheel section would not be spinning and the living quarters would be turned, like beads on a string, so that the applied force was in the proper direction.
Isotopic energy storage is used on these ships . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - Fusion Ships
GRAVITY-WAVE GENERATOR
The operation of the gravity wave generators is very similar to the super-radiant power plant. Except there is a small black hole with about the mass of the asteroid Ceres orbiting a larger black hole which has a mass about that of Earth. To generate gravity waves the smaller mass dives towards the larger mass barely missing the event horizon. It loops from there out almost to its original orbit several times generating high frequency gravity waves before the orbit regularizes again at a distance that is somewhat less than the original. Then energy from a super-radiant power plant restores the system to its original configuration before another round of gravity waves is generated.
ISOTOPIC ENERGY RESERVOIR
The isotopic energy reservoir, which provides the huge amount of energy the wormhole drive demands when forming a wormhole mouth, is an energy storage system which uses the atomic nucleus rather than chemical means to store energy. By using specific isotopes energy can be stored in an excited state of the nuclei of those isotopes. As such it provides several orders of magnitude (up to 1,000,000 times) more energy density than any other energy storage method.
Another advantage of isotopic storage is that the energy can be released on a much shorter time scale than usual. For example, in a specific excited state of an isotope of molybdenum a "hole" created in an atomic shell will attract a free electron. The free electron falling into that shell will in turn transfer just the right (small) amount of energy to the nuclei and, like a switch, cause a fast but controlled release of the stored energy.
Such isotopic energy storage reservoirs are sometimes called isotopic capacitor banks although they have nothing to do with traditional capacitors . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science – Isotopic Energy Reservoir
LOOP QUANTUM GRAVITY (LQG)
Loop Quantum Gravity was developed in the twenty-first century by physicists to meld quantum mechanics and general relativity into one. Just as in quantum mechanics, which describes a smallest quanta of light, the photon, for instance, loop quantum gravity describes a smallest quanta of volume (and area). This idea has great appeal because if there is a smallest quanta of volume then it would be impossible for a singularity to form and physics would still apply even inside a black hole and at the big bang (which wouldn't exactly be a big bang but a big bounce).
Another aspect of loop quantum gravity is that the links that make up the loops stitching together the quanta volumes of spacetime are usually local. But not always. It is possible that a link between nodes of volume could have been established and then separated. Somewhere across the universe then could be an entangled quanta of volume corresponding to a local quanta of volume . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - Loop Quantum Gravity
MACH EFFECT
The Mach Effect describes a relationship between a particular mass and the universal mass. The physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach said in essence that the inertia (a measure of mass) that an object exhibited was caused by all the other masses in the universe.
This is easy to understand if one considers a single object in an otherwise empty universe. How do you measure its velocity? There is no reference by which to measure its coordinate change, therefore there can be no velocity. If there can be no velocity then there can be no resistance to a change in velocity, therefore no inertia. A subtle but logical argument.
When applied to the wormhole generator the Mach Effect shows that if a material's electrons are shielded from the universal mass then the large and negative “bare mass” of the electron will be expressed.
This argument follows from the fact that electrons are surrounded by a sea of virtual particles and these virtual particles have a large positive mass. The electron's measured mass is very small, therefore, according to simple addition, the electron's intrinsic mass must be large and negative. This “exotic” mass would display negative gravity and this along with the huge bare mass is just the what is needed to open and keep open the mouth of a wormhole . . .
Source:
Wormhole Physics 101, 8th Edition, by Dr. Elias Mach
Copyright 2640 C.E.- Chapter 1, Page 23
The Mach Effect
Introduction to the Mach Effect
MACH, ELIAS
The inventor of the wormhole drive was born November, 9 2529.
Elias was a precocious child. At six years old he had created a game that every child in the Centauri Two space habitat played on their personal Emmies. At seven years old he was solving equations that his physic's teacher father had not solved until his undergrad days. At eight he was in the seventh grade though he did most of his school work at home because his parents had found that their son could frustrate even the best of teachers with his constant questions.
At ten Elias designed a material that could stand up to even the most powerful military lasers. He recalled in later years that he had seen a virtual reality vid where laser weapons were used to defeat the “good” guys. Even though they won in the end Elias didn't like it and he became determined to find a material to resist such a weapon.
It wasn't long until Elias' material, called mach-metal was being installed in military and other spaceships. A complete change in the tactics of ship to ship combat resulted. But Elias was just happy that now the “good” guys would be able to defend themselves if they had to fight.
At eleven . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Source for Science - Elias Mach
MULVANEY WOOD-TURNING ARTWORK
The Mulvaney family of Earth have been providing spectacular wood turned artwork throughout the entire sphere of human habitation for a number of years.
Ed Mulvaney the patriarch started turning wood as a way to bring in credits he needed to trade for those things he couldn't make himself on his farm in the Southern United Territories of the North-Western Hemisphere of Earth. By sticking to classic forms but with a nod to heavenly bodies such as Saturn's Rings, Ed Mulvaney was able to make his woodworking art universal.
It was also substantial. The Saturn's Rings Globe for example had a diameter of almost three feet and weighed in at several hundred pounds. The highly polished resultant figure showed in great detail the grain of the wood, much like the real Saturn shows its cloud patterns. Collectors and galleries felt they were getting something substantial for their money when they bought a Mulvaney.
When Jason Mulvaney, Ed's son, joined the family business he not only became a wood turning artist in his own right but also he expanded the scope of the audience by marketing the family's woodwork wherever humanity had settled. Many of these settlers had never set foot on Earth but knowing they had a piece of art grown in the soil of humanity's birthplace brought them great pleasure.
James Mulvaney, Jason's son, has already started creating small pieces and its suspected he will carry on the family business . . .
Source:
Art-pedia - The Online Resource for Art – The Mulvaney Family, Artists to the Stars
NONLOCAL LINK
In loop quantum gravity links that make up the loops stitching together the quanta volumes of spacetime are usually local, that is they are causally related. But not always. It is possible that a link between nodes of volume could have been established early in the history of the universe and then they separated. Somewhere across the universe then could be an entangled quanta of volume corresponding to a local quanta of volume.
Surprisingly these nonlocal links aren't necessarily rare. It's estimated that there could, on average, be more than one per cubic nanometer of space. Not enough to disrupt the smooth aspect of spacetime we experience but enough to explain entanglement of distant particles.
They can be used to send information and mass over vast distances, much farther than a wormhole drive . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science – Nonlocal links
QUANTA OF VOLUME
Although it may seem smooth and continuous, a liquid is just the collective motions of myriads of water molecules. At the atomic level it is discrete, it is only because of the huge numbers of molecules and their tiny size that we see a liquid as continuous.
If loop quantum gravity is correct, and there are reasons to think it is, then there is a quanta of volume which is extremely small, on the order of the Planck scale, and so numerous that spacetime appears smooth and continuous to our senses.
Now because of our difficulties dealing with such a large collection of objects we must resort to statistics to describe their collective actions. Like the temperature of a body of water is a thermodynamic property derived from the statistical spread of molecular motion. Some molecules in the water are moving very fast while other molecules are moving very slow but the vast majority are moving at speeds around the mean which we call the temperature.
Something similar holds for quanta of volume but that is not the most interesting feature. What is most interesting is that the same distribution holds for the links, or the loops in LQG, that connect the volume quanta. Most of the links are around the mean, most are local and this is why we have the illusion that everything must be in contact, whether physically or through an intermediate field, to have a cause and effect.
But the links far from the mean, the ones we would consider nonlocal, are the really interesting ones. They can be used to send information over vast distances . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science – Volume quanta
QUANTUM BATTERY
One problem with isotopic storage, which uses the atomic nucleus to store energy, is that it has a natural tendency to lose its charge over time (this is also a problem with more conventional energy storage devices).
The quantum battery takes on the charge leakage problem. By harnessing the power of "excitonic energy" — the state in which a nucleus absorbs charged photons of light, the resulting battery is highly robust to energy losses. The fact that the photon is absorbed in an isolated state where it cannot exchange energy — by absorbing or releasing photons — with its surroundings, prevents the charge leakage.
Breaking down this isolate state allows the battery to discharge and release its energy.
QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT AND SPACETIME
Spacetime is an emergent property of quantum entanglement, that “spooky” action at a distance effect that links two (or more) particles or volume quanta together in a quantum state. Whereby if we measure a property of one of the particles, such as spin angular momentum, then that property is known for the other particle no matter how far away it is from the first particle.
It must be remembered that the measured property did not have a fixed value before measurement, it only assumed the value at the moment of measurement, and because the distant particle was entangled with the measured particle then it also assumed the complementary value at the same time, i.e. action at a distance.
Thus entanglement knits together spacetime through particles and volume quanta sharing a common quantum state. But if enough of these entanglements are “broken” then spacetime starts to “unravel.” And the unraveling spreads at the speed of light. Fortunately the effects of this unraveling dissipate over distance.
Common ways to cause this unraveling is to repeatedly create wormhole pairs without a reservoir of entangled particles. If this is done often enough spacetime will begin to “atomize” or breakup. A more spectacular way to cause this phenomenon is to concentrate too much energy in too small a space as with a wormhole drive.
Spacetime may breakdown at differing scales. On the smallest scale even the human body can be affected. Symptoms of spacetime breakdown felt by humans are severe headache, nausea, muscle aches . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - Quantum Entanglement & Spacetime
QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT DETECTOR
According to quantum field theory even a vacuum is filled with electromagnetic waves at different wavelengths. The Casimir effect measures the existence of these waves between two extremely close parallel plates of the Casimir device. As the plates get closer together some electromagnetic waves are excluded from between them because their wavelength no longer “fits”. Of course outside the device the electromagnetic waves are still the same at all wavelengths and these external waves will have a greater energy than the waves between the plates. The net result is a measurable force between the plates dependent on the distance between them.
Used aboard a wormhole (jump) drive ship the Casimir device shows that when an object is transported or teleported through the wormhole the net effect is a weakening of the Casimir force. It is as if longer wavelength electromagnetic waves have been diminished. This effect is a direct consequence of the “atomizing” of spacetime. In effect spacetime is breaking down affecting larger masses and longer wavelength EM waves first as a result of the loss of entanglement in the area of the wormhole mouth.
To pass anything other than qubits through a wormhole the object must be entangled with the nearside wormhole mouth. In turn this will entangle it with the wormhole mouth on the far side. Each atom of the object must undergo this entanglement and each atom uses a qubit to do so. A vast amount of entangled qubits are being used which the Casimir device can measure . . .
Source:
Wormhole Drive Engineering, 1st Edition by Dr. Franklin Benjamin
Copyright 3001 A.D. - Appendix 2, Pg. 779
A Casimir Device As An Entanglement Detector
QUANTUM SPIN FOAM
A spin foam in loop quantum gravity is an extension of the mathematics of spin networks to include time and space.
A spin network consists of nodes and links which create a net-like graph, similar to a woven cloth with thread for links and nodes where the threads cross. Now if the nodes are associated with small units of volume (quanta of volume) and the links are associated with small units of area (quanta of area) then when time enters the picture the points get extended as lines and the lines extend as sheets. The whole thing creates something that resembles the borders between soap bubbles. Therefore the term foam.
Now spin is related to quantum spin which is an intrinsic and unique property of sub-atomic particles, and is not the same as normal angular momentum. The quantum spin numbers are used in the mathematics that construct spin networks. Since spin is quantized, having only whole or half values the resulting spacetime is quantized leading to quantum gravity.
Spacetime then emerges from a spin network, a graph-like net structure propagated through time . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - Quantum Spin Foam
QUANTUM TELEPORTATION
Ignoring the complex math and non-intuitive quantum effects, in its simplest form quantum teleportation has been used for hundreds of years as a way to recreate atoms and later recreate complete objects by information exchange and not material exchange.
It is not a way to instantly transport an object because to pass the information needed by the teleportation requires a classical communication link between the two locations which is limited by the speed of light. Just as the telegraph hundreds of years before had required wires to transmit information, so quantum teleportation requires an ordinary classical communication channel, be it radio, light or other. And because the classical channel is required the size of the object “teleported” is limited by the amount of information and speed of the communications channel.
And the amount of information grows exponentially as the objects become more complex . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - Quantum Teleportation
RECORDER GLOBES
Invented by artificial intelligence each globe contains about a million terabits or an exabyte of data (approximately the total amount of printed material on Earth at the start of the twenty-first century). Holoscopic storage uses lasers to read and write. Multiple lasers can be used for fast data rates. A cavern on Earth was found with millions of globes, total estimated data is several trillion terabytes.
There are many different particle configurations. Some of these came in the form of the five Platonic solids such as cube, tetrahedral, octohedral and so on. Others were more complex and seemed to be made up of pairs, triplets, quadruplets and a single quintuplet combination of the solids. Fifteen different combinations in all. To Emmy it seemed a small number for a whole alphabet.
The magnetic lines of force of a skyrmion cross each other at many points as they build the cage holding the particle plasma. For the gift globe, there were nine circulating field lines crossing each other at nine factorial locations or over three-hundred and sixty thousand unique locations.
The usual five Platonic solids came out as pictograms which were followed by an English letter. But there were far more unique pictograms. The Ems analyzed the results and found five-hundred sixty-eight unique pictograms. It was quickly seen that this was the result of all the various solids combined with one or more of the others.
For instance combining a tetrahedral (four vertices, four faces) with a cube (eight vertices, six faces) gave a pictogram with twelve vertices and ten faces. It turned out that the extended set of pictograms also gave numbers and mathematical symbols. The Ems also recovered the message that the Aggies gave to the fleet when the gift was presented along with some arithmetical operations. This was meant to be a check on the translation.
SPACE HABITATS
For the first time in history space habitats became humankind's primary abode when they settled the Centauri System in the twenty-sixth century.
Humankind has now been living in space habitats for hundreds of years. But the latest versions dwarf the originals. The latest specimen is the great cylindrical habitat circling Procyon in Canis Minor. At one-hundred kilometers in radius and one-thousand kilometers in length the habitat has six-hundred twenty-eight billion square meters of surface area capable of supporting six-billion humans although it was never planned to house that many.
Such a structure could never have been built until molecular nanotechnology (MNT) was perfected. The strength of MNT diamondoid material is forty times that of steel and absolutely necessary for such a huge structure.
The Procyon habitat known as Great Pania rotates to provide eighty percent Earth gravity. It has a companion cylinder rigidly attached to it at the endcaps. The companion, which also rotates, serves for agriculture and manufacturing. The twin cylinder design allows for moment of inertia shedding which facilitates maintaining the system's orbital parameters.
Unlike older habitats, Great Pania was as much “grown” as constructed. Built from diamondoid material by beam walking 3D printers the frame is essentially one piece. The light admitting windows are narrower than in most cylindrical habitats. Only a few narrow strips the entire length of the cylinder are necessary. Light is directed to these strips by adjustable mirrors which automatically track Procyon. At night the windows change in color and transmissivity mimicking an Earth night but without moon or stars.
Though it was never foreseen by economists in the early space era, trade among habitats, facilitated by the wormhole drive, has become quite extensive. Many space habitats have become dependent on that trade . . .
Source:
A History of the Space Habitat, 1st Edition, Dr. Poul Jackson
Copyright 3050 C.E. (A.D.) - Chapter 1, Pg. 1
Introduction
SPIN-TWO DRIVE
Spin-two is a reference to the particle of gravity, the graviton, although spin one-half particles (fermions) are more important to the drives operation.
To develop the spin-two drive Dr. Franklin Benjamin used the wormhole drive's ability to cast exotic mass-energy into nonlocal links which for all intent and purposes act like narrow wormholes.
Nonlocal describes particles that are too far apart to causally affect each other (see nonlocal links above).
The cast energy causes fermionic particles, particles with one-half quantum spin, to flip their spin (say from up to down). The nonlocal partners to these fermions, entangled particles in other words, assume the opposite spin state. By modulating the mass-energy, a pulse can travel down the nonlocal link at a frequency determined by the spin-two drive.
Using the drives ability to create pulsating “bubbles” of negative mass-energy a ship inserted into the nonlocal link is pulled and pushed along to the far end.
Once the ship enters the link the drive shuts down and the decaying pulses eventually allow the link to “relax” to its original state. By that time the ship has already emerged at the nonlocal destination. The link portals now decay completely and the nonlocal tunnel closes.
The advantages of the spin-two drive over the wormhole drive are many. Because the spin-two drive is only opening an already existing mini-wormhole link the exotic mass-energy needed is one-tenth that of a wormhole drive which must force the wormhole open from beginning to end in the wormhole dimension.
Another advantage is that the nonlocal links are by definition usually connecting regions of space that are far removed. Jumps of a thousand light-years are common compared to the forty light-year jumps possible with the wormhole drive. In fact there is no limit to the jump distant but because the distribution of jump lengths follow a gaussian distribution very long links are harder to find in the quantum foam and therefore it takes a longer and longer time to make very long jumps . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science – Spin-two Drive
STAR WAY
The Star Way was built in the early twenty-sixth century. It is first and foremost a transportation system. From the Solar System to the Centauri System huge lightsails kilometers across are driven by lasers to speeds fast enough to make the trip in a little over six years. The light from the Sun or Alpha Centauri A is fed to giant solar arrays which power the tremendous energy needs of the lasers. The laser light is refocused every one-hundred astronomical units by giant lenses at beam relay stations and sent forward or redirected to power the lightsails. At the time the system was the largest engineering project ever undertaken by humans.
The Star Way is not only a transport system, it is also an abode for human life. Almost every fifth beam relay station along the Star Way has an accompanying habitat. These habitats, usually cylindrical, slowly rotate to provide an artificial gravity for their inhabitants.
At a distance of thirty-seven billion miles, ten times the distance from the Sun to Pluto, the settlements are truly isolated from each other. Even a fusion ship takes over twenty days to travel from one settlement to another. And while still small compared to the Earth the total population of the Star Way amounts to almost three-hundred million people . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - The Star Way
SUPER-RADIANT POWER PLANT
A rotating black hole called a Kerr black hole by physicists, can serve as a power amplifier. If you surround the black hole with a spherical mirror and then inject a small amount of radiant energy from a star at just the right angle to the rotating black hole that energy will skim the surface of the hole's event horizon.
If done properly the radiant energy will be 'dragged' by the frame-dragging effect of the black hole's immense gravity around the hole and emerge amplified. Do this several times and you can amplify the energy from an ordinary star to huge levels.
The radiant energy is injected at a certain frequency and the resultant amplification shifts that frequency. Always remembering that as the energy increases the frequency of a photon of electromagnetic energy also increases.
Just as radio waves can travel through certain materials while being reflected by others the mirror appears transparent at the lower and upper frequencies of the injected radiant energy and opaque at frequencies in between.
In this way radiant energy can be injected into the spherical mirror and emerge amplified where it can then deposit that energy in a conversion layer blanketing the sphere.
WORMHOLES
The Wormhole Drive uses a version of the Mach Effect which says that if a material's electrons could be shielded from the universal mass then the large and negative “bare mass” of the electron would appear. This argument follows from the fact that electrons are surrounded by a sea of virtual particles and these virtual particles have a large positive mass. Since the electron's measured mass is very small, the electron's intrinsic mass must be large and negative.
This “exotic” mass-energy would display a repulsive gravity which along with the huge bare mass would be just the thing to open and keep open the mouth of a wormhole.
Once the near wormhole mouth is opened and stabilized the far wormhole mouth is cast. This is accomplished by feeding more exotic mass-energy into the near mouth and forcing a wormhole connection through the wormhole dimension to the far target. The far wormhole mouth opens in the target area and is kept open with the same exotic mass-energy as the near mouth.
It soon became apparent that the key to stabilizing a wormhole, like a bridge, was in the supporting structure.
As the wormhole forms the negative mass-energy would spiral rapidly along the walls of the wormhole providing support. The usual attractive force of gravity is reversed between negative mass-energy and ordinary mass-energy and this repulsive force helps keep the wormhole from collapsing . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - The Mach Effect and Wormhole Drives
WORMHOLES - COMMUNICATION LINKS
The wormhole is very much a communication device, bridging light years. A practical wormhole communication involves opening a small wormhole link to the destination and using an ordinary radio frequency transmitter to send the message. The communication is almost instantaneous.
The distance achievable with this form of communications is much greater than that for wormhole transport. Wormhole communication links at great distances have been achieved with a minimum of energy usage because it is only necessary to open the smallest of “bridges” in the wormhole dimension to communicate. To calculate the energy necessary to open a link we first write the metric . . .
Source:
Wormhole Physics 101 by Dr. Elias Mach
Copyright 2548 C.E.- Chapter 11, Page 403
Communication Links
WORMHOLE GENERATOR (WORMHOLE DEVICE OR MACH DEVICE)
The design of a wormhole generator and therefore a wormhole drive is a materials problem. The Mach device is made up of three layers, each with its own special characteristics. The innermost layer provides a solid support for the outer layers and contains the material which supplies the negative mass or exotic mass needed to open a wormhole mouth. In a fusion ship this layer is adhered to the outer surface of the crew wheel.
Next is the actuator layer which drives the Mach effect in the outermost layer and is usually made of a PZT (lead-zirconium-titanate) composite. A large voltage is supplied to this layer and driven with a sinusoidal signal.
The outer layer, the Mach layer, is made from a material with a large capacity for internal energy changes. And when it is driven by a quickly ramping voltage applied to the actuator layer it will shield the innermost layer from the universal mass exposing the large and negative (or exotic) bare mass of the layer's electrons. This large mass with it's repulsive gravity can open and keep open a wormhole.
The final essential element for designing a wormhole generator is that the layers should be in acceleration. In the case of a fusion ship this is usually accomplished through the rotation of the crew wheel, always remembering that a change in direction is also an acceleration . . .
Source:
Wormhole Drive Engineering, 1st Edition by Dr. Franklin Benjamin
Copyright 3001 A.D. - Chapter 2, Pg. 29
The Mach Device
WORMHOLES - LONG JUMP
The longer a wormhole is kept open the greater the energy density in the wormhole dimension. This density leads to a tension that develops at what might be called the wall of the wormhole. This is the place where the repulsive gravity of the exotic mass-energy must balance the attractive force of the ordinary matter and energy of the transporting object.
This energy balancing is rapidly changing and leads to an immense stress and a variety of vibrational modes at frequencies beginning in the audible. These vibrational modes are similar to the modes found in a black hole between its event horizon and Cauchy horizon.
Some of this vibrational energy, which will be called shadow energy for reasons that will become apparent later, leaks or radiates away as gravitational waves into normal spacetime.
It will be shown that if a spaceship is close enough to “hear” (compact gravitational waves interacting with the hull of the ship causing it to resonate) this shadow energy then the ship will be close enough to have its three dimensional momentum affected. This is the frame dragging effect of general relativity which is also seen around rotating black holes.
We call this location “in the shadow” of the wormhole.
Effects on the human body limit the direct use of wormholes to about seven and a half light-years (see Chapter 23). To get around this limit a ship has to use the frame-dragging effect to “ride” the shadow energy wave from the wormhole dimension. This effect acts on a ship in ordinary space when close enough to the wormhole dimension and propels it in ordinary space many times the speed of light. But no law of physics is broken because the ship is always traveling less than the speed of light relative to its immediate environment. It is spacetime itself that appears to travel at superluminal speeds. It can be likened to the period of inflation in the early universe when spacetime expanded rapidly.
But there are still two problems with this method of propulsion. It is energy intensive, as it takes energy to open and keep open the long-jump wormhole and energy, in the form of unmanned masses shot into it, to cause the frame-dragging. And since a single ship cannot create a long-jump wormhole to just anywhere, networks have to be established and supported, adding to the cost.
Another problem is that when traveling through a wormhole instead of being dragged by it the time of travel is essentially instantaneous. On the other hand frame dragging has an upper limit to its speed and therefore takes a finite time. This is not a major problem now but could be in the future as longer and longer jumps are attempted.
One side-effect of the energy from the wormhole dimension leaking into ordinary space is that standing waves or ripples in spacetime are created close to the wormhole. The energy of these ripples can excite atoms and cause them to begin radiating in the visible spectrum. Beginning as a soft glow, eventually the light will get bright enough to be seen by the unaided eye, thus making the invisible corridor in the wormhole dimension visible in ordinary spacetime . .
Source:
Wormhole Physics 101, 8th Edition, by Dr. Elias Mach
Copyright 2640 C.E.- Chapter 24, Page 612
Long-Jump Wormholes
WORMHOLES - PHASE CHANGE
It was discovered early in the use of wormholes for transport that beyond a distance of seven and a half light-years* the jump had a deleterious effect on the human body. It is conjectured that this is associated with a phase change in spacetime at that distance which affects many but not all people.
To understand this qualitatively imagine that the fabric of spacetime has the consistency of water. We travel through this medium without notice (except for some higher order effects) as we transport. Note that the spacetime medium is not “empty” space but permeates everything including our spaceship. Empty space is itself embedded in this medium.
Now imagine that a phase change occurs in this medium, like water becoming ice. Now we nor our spaceship are adapted to this new medium. If the strain of this phase change is momentary, like breaking through a thin layer of ice, then the spaceship survives and continues its journey. But what about our bodies?
Although not proven it is thought that the phase change can have a disruptive effect at the cellular level in a human body. This seems to happen to some people while others are not affected or are only put to sleep. It appears to be a direct result of the permeability factor of the cells which varies from individual to individual . . .
* Superseded by Dr. Emmy Gibbs work.
Source:
Wormhole Physics 101, 8th Edition, by Dr. Elias Mach
Copyright 2640 C.E.- Chapter 23, Page 579
Wormholes and Phase Change
WORMHOLES - QUARANTINE ZONE
The concentration of energy required to open a wormhole is so great that to chance its use closer than ten AU (about the distance from the Sun to Saturn) from any human habitat is unwise.
This had been discovered by accident when the wormhole generator was new. It was found that if enough energy could be concentrated at a point in space a dangerous disruption of spacetime would occur that would then propagate away at the speed of light destroying any mass in its way including space habitats. Fortunately the effect would dissipate over distance and ten AU was thought to be an adequate quarantine for a normal “jump.”
It would take a 4th generation fusion ship about fourteen days to accelerate/decelerate to that distance . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - Wormhole Quarantine Zone
WORMHOLE TRANSPORT NETWORK
Because of the limitations presented by the direct use of wormholes for transportation a transport network similar to the old hub and spoke air transport system of Earth has developed.
Out to a distance of 7.5 light-years* a direct jump can be taken to the destination. In fact it is possible to make several jumps of less than 7.5 light-years to reach a distant destination if there are intervening star systems where the isotopic energy reservoirs, which support the energy demands of the wormhole generator, can be recharged by the central star.
However the multi-jump method is time consuming as it usually takes days orbiting the central star for the isotopics to recharge. For a journey with several jumps this could add up to weeks or months of delay. The Wormhole Transport Network addresses this issue by establishing a long-jump wormhole between two destinations, keeping it operating by firing masses into it and, through the use of general relativistic frame-dragging, transporting a ship at a finite but large rate across that distance.
Because the ship must be extremely close to the wormhole for the frame-dragging effect to work a phenomena known colloquially as “wormhole singing” develops. The ships could hear this “singing” during transport. The phenomena occurred because the wormhole was radiating away gravity waves at all frequencies, particularly at audio frequencies, and a ship's hull would respond to the waves by vibrating. The phenomena was so loud that ships had to be redesigned to dampen the sound . . .
* Superseded by Dr. Emmy Gibbs work (see “The Sixth Category novel for details).
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - Wormhole Transport Network (WTN)
WORMHOLE WEAPON
The wormhole generator while being a boon to transport, industry and the economy has a darker side. When reconfigured the generator can be turned into a weapon. In the creation of a wormhole mouth there is a moment when the ruling equations “blow up.” This division by zero problem is avoided in the generator by driving the system through this point quickly. But in a weapon's configuration the system is driven to this point and halts. A very small black hole forms and quickly evaporates according to a quantum effect first noted by the physicist Stephen Hawking. The weapon directs the evaporation products, essentially a plasma, towards the target. There is no known material that can resist its destructive power . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - Wormhole Weapons
ZERO-POINT ENERGY
Zero-point energy is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical system may have. Unlike in classical mechanics, quantum systems constantly fluctuate at their lowest energy state as described by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The empty space of the vacuum has this property.
According to quantum field theory, the universe can be thought of not as isolated particles but continuous fluctuating fields. All fields have zero-point energy. But these fields cannot be a physical medium if it is to be Lorentz invariant such that there is no contradiction with Einstein's theory of special relativity.
Richard Feynman and John Wheeler calculated that the zero-point radiation of the vacuum was so powerful that even a small cup of it would be enough to set all of Earth’s oceans to a boil. But Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity suggests zero-point radiation would “gravitate” — spreading out throughout the universe and be mitigated.
Then it was found that two negative energy surfaces in close proximity prevents the dilution of the zero-point energy, prevents it from “gravitating”. Thus the energy can be gathered and used immediately or stored for later use.
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