Warp drive space-time

In this paper the problem of the quantum stability of the two-dimensional warp drive spacetime moving with an apparent faster than light velocity is considered. We regard as a maximum extension beyond the event horizon of that spacetime its embedding in a three-dimensional Minkowskian space with the...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: González-Díaz, Pedro F.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2000
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/99501
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/99501
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:[PACS] Fundamental problems and general formalism
[PACS] Spacetime topology, causal structure, spinor structure
Descripción
Sumario:In this paper the problem of the quantum stability of the two-dimensional warp drive spacetime moving with an apparent faster than light velocity is considered. We regard as a maximum extension beyond the event horizon of that spacetime its embedding in a three-dimensional Minkowskian space with the topology of the corresponding Misner space. It is obtained that the interior of the spaceship bubble becomes then a multiply connected nonchronal region with closed spacelike curves and that the most natural vacuum allows quantum fluctuations which do not induce any divergent behavior of the renormalized stress-energy tensor, even on the event (Cauchy) chronology horizon. In such a case, the horizon encloses closed timelike curves only at scales close to the Planck length, so that the warp drive satisfies Ford's negative energy-time inequality. Also found is a connection between the superluminal two-dimensional warp drive space and two-dimensional gravitational kinks. This connection allows us to generalize the considered Alcubierre metric to a standard, nonstatic metric which is only describable on two different coordinate patches. ©2000 The American Physical Society.