The ALPHA collaboration has conducted the most precise experiment of all on the measurement of the behavior of neutral antimatter in the gravity field. Depending on the results, it can open doors to incredible new technologies. A sci-Fi technology for a long time (or forever) will remain in the field of literature, if only physics will not change. But many experiments can test this?
The dream of instant communication, interstellar space ships and the ability to travel in time – hackneyed cliches of science fiction. In many ways, they represent the greatest hope of mankind, and still rely on technologies that go beyond what is known at present. However, constantly carried out and developed new experiments. If we’re lucky, we can find beyond the horizon? Ethan Siegel from Medium.com answering the following question:
“Assuming we’re lucky, what scientific experiments that will be conducted in the next few decades, can provide us with sci-Fi?”.
There are several fantastic opportunities that can shake up our reality by the end of the 21st century.
Any rocket that ever created, require fuel. But if we set the engine on dark matter, the new fuel could be found at every step leading through the galaxy
Dark matter may be an unlimited source of fuel, which we don’t need to carry. One of the biggest mysteries in science is, in fact, the nature of dark matter. We know that it exists through indirect observations, and we know that a lot of it. If you add up all the ordinary matter in a large galaxy, it turns out that dark matter is five times more. And it will almost certainly consist of particles with some common properties:
- they have a lot
- they have no electric or color charge
- they interact gravitationally
- they must, on some level, to face each other and/or with ordinary matter
From the famous formula of Einstein E = mc2 we have learned that dark matter contains a huge amount of energy five times more than in the whole of normal matter in the amount. If the universe is good to us, we could try to extract it.
The mass distribution of the cluster Abell 370, reconstructed using gravitational lensing, shows two large, diffuse halo mass corresponding to the dark matter of the two merging clusters. Near and within any accumulations of normal substances there is five times more dark matter
In many experiments, a search for collisions of dark matter with ordinary matter and with itself. In General, there are two types of particles: fermions (half-integer spin) and bosons (with integer spin). If dark matter is a boson, which means that it is likely its own antiparticle, which means if you take two dark matter particles and force them to interact with each other, they are mutually annihilated. And if they are destroyed, you’ll produce clean energy. In other words, it’s a free, unlimited source of energy that is available everywhere and plenty. And you don’t even need to take with you if you decide to cross the Universe. So when you hear about experiments to search for dark matter, unlimited, free energy is our ultimate, desired goal.
Illustration of a warp field from star Trek, which reduces the space in front of him, extending for a space
Antimatter may have negative mass, which means that it can be the key to the warp engine. If you want to travel to the stars, conventional sources of energy and fuel will take you only from a fence and till a dinner. Or they will move faster than the speed of light. The nearest star like the Sun with potentially habitable worlds, Tau Ceti is about 12 light years from us. That is, just one trip there and back will take at least half of my life. But if we could compress space in front of him, traveling through interstellar space, while expanding it behind, we could get there much faster. This idea came to mind astrophysics Miguel Alcubierre in 1994, which later issued her by the canons of a strict science.
Only here for the solution Alcubierre needed negative mass
To achieve the right configuration of space-time required for acceleration warp, you need to fulfill two conditions: a huge amount of energy and the existence of negative mass. This negative mass, which is known only on paper, necessary for the proper curvature of space-time, and therefore for warp movement. But we never measured the mass of antimatter particles; they fall “down” or “up” in a gravitational field, is still unknown. Zernovski experiment ALPHA currently measures the gravitational effects of antimatter and its behavior in a gravitational field. If the answer is fall up in a gravitational field, we will simply get a negative mass and collect warp drive.
Tool Virtual IronBird allows you to create artificial gravity, but requires a lot of energy and allows to provide only the specific centripetal force. True artificial gravity would require negative mass
Negative mass would also enable us to create artificial gravity. The same possibility of existence of negative masses in the Universe would allow us to create an artificial gravitational field. The existence of positive and negative charges in electromagnetism allows us to create guides, to manipulate electrical fields and to screen these electric fields. Gravity, as far as we are aware, has only one type of charge: positive mass. The existence of negative masses would allow us to create a true environment of zero gravity and provide us with an opportunity to create an artificial gravitational field of any magnitude between the two systems of positive and negative mass.
The idea of time travel POPs up constantly in science fiction. But if the Universe has closed time-like curves it is not only possible, but inevitable
A rotating universe would allow us to go back in time. In this case, time travel is not just possible, but inevitable, in the forward direction. Since space and time are United by the fabric of space-time, will require a significant shake-up of physics known to us, to force time to flow in the opposite direction. In the space back to its original position is quite simple: the Earth itself does it, when does the revolution around the Sun, but is a substantial distance forward in time, i.e. time passes, for approximately one year. “A closed space-like curve” to make easy. However, to return to the starting point in time, you will need something unusual: “closed time-like curve” is a feature, which in our expanding, filled with matter of the Universe is not. Unless the universe revolves.
In a Universe that rotates, there is an exact solution in which the density of matter and cosmological constant (aka dark energy) have certain values, and the universe must have closed time-like curves. So far, we only constrained the total global rotation of the Universe, but do not exclude it completely. If the universe will rotate at a certain speed, which is balanced by a given density of matter and cosmological constant, it will be absolutely possible to go back in time and return to the exact spot from which you started, not only in space but in space-time. Large-scale structure survey of deep space, which will provide observations observatories WFIRST or LSST can detect this rotation, if any.
Conceptual image of NASA satellite WFIRST, which will go into space in 2024, and will provide us the most accurate measurements of dark energy, and will also make other discoveries
There are always more exotic possibilities than science – teleportation of physical objects, instantaneous movement between open locations (wormholes) or communication faster than the speed of light — but this will require a much more complicated song and dance than conducting a simple experiment with two possible outcomes. However, we continue to look for. Science is not a story with one ending. This is an ongoing detective story, where each opening, each data point and each experiment inevitably lead to deeper questions in the future. Throughout this journey it is important to keep an open mind.
What scientific experiments will open the door for us in the future?
Ilya Hel