Quantum effects in the Alcubierre warp-drive spacetime
Open accessAbstract
The expectation value of the stress - energy tensor of a free conformally invariant scalar field is computed in a two-dimensional reduction of the Alcubierre `warp-drive' spacetime. Unless the spacetime is in the Hartle - Hawking state at an appropriate temperature, the stress - energy diverges on past and future event horizons which form when the apparent velocity of the spaceship exceeds the speed of light. The likelihood of the spacetime being in this state, whether due to natural evolution or the application of technology, is briefly discussed.
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The Alcubierre spacetime hosts horizons that would render the soliton uncontrollable.
“Additionally, the spacetime hosts horizons that would render the soliton uncontrollable [9].”
From Positive energy warp drive from hidden geometric structures (2021) · cites this paper as [9]
The Abstract and L184 passages say that past and future horizons form when the ship’s apparent speed exceeds light speed. The L186 passage says the past horizon causally disconnects a region from the ship and notes a difficulty in turning the warp drive off once established. It does not establish that the soliton would be categorically uncontrollable. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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Cites
The warp drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity
Alcubierre, M. (1994) · Classical and Quantum Gravity · doi:10.1088/0264-9381/11/5/001 · Cited by 569 · see citing works
Energy-momentum tensor near an evaporating black hole
Davies, P. C. W., Fulling, S. A., & Unruh, W. G. (1976) · Physical Review D · doi:10.1103/physrevd.13.2720 · Cited by 389 · see citing works
The unphysical nature of `warp drive'
Pfenning, M. J., & Ford, L. H. (1997) · Classical and Quantum Gravity · doi:10.1088/0264-9381/14/7/011 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
The Unphysical Nature of ‘Warp DrivePreprint
Pfenning, M. J., & Ford, L. H. (1997) · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Thermal divergences on the event horizons of two-dimensional black holes
Loranz, D. J., Hiscock, W. A., & Anderson, P. R. (1995) · Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields · doi:10.1103/physrevd.52.4554 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
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Fundamental limitations on ‘warp drive’ spacetimes
Lobo, F. S. N., & Visser, M. (2004) · Classical and Quantum Gravity · doi:10.1088/0264-9381/21/24/011 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Breaking the warp barrier: hyper-fast solitons in Einstein–Maxwell-plasma theory
Lentz, E. W. (2021) · Classical and Quantum Gravity · doi:10.1088/1361-6382/abe692 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Weak Energy Condition Violation and Superluminal Travel
Lobo, F., & Crawford, P. (2003) · Lecture Notes in Physics · doi:10.1007/3-540-36973-2_15 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Semiclassical instability of dynamical warp drives
Finazzi, S., Liberati, S., & Barceló, C. (2009) · Physical Review D · doi:10.1103/physrevd.79.124017 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Generic warp drives violate the null energy condition
Santiago, J., Schuster, S., & Visser, M. (2022) · Physical Review D · doi:10.1103/physrevd.105.064038 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Alcubierre, M., & Lobo, F. S. N. (2017) · Fundamental Theories of Physics · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55182-1_11 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Fluid dynamics in the warp drive spacetime geometry
Santos-Pereira, O. L., Abreu, E. M. C., & Ribeiro, M. B. (2021) · The European Physical Journal C · doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-08921-3 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Positive energy warp drive from hidden geometric structures
Fell, S. D. B., & Heisenberg, L. (2021) · Classical and Quantum Gravity · doi:10.1088/1361-6382/ac0e47 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Alcubierre warp drive in spherical coordinates with some matter configurations
Abellán, G., Bolivar, N., & Vasilev, I. (2023) · The European Physical Journal C · doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-11091-5 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
ADM mass in warp drive spacetimes
Schuster, S., Santiago, J., & Visser, M. (2023) · General Relativity and Gravitation · doi:10.1007/s10714-022-03061-9 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Marzlin, K.-P., & Kinach, M. P. (2022) · Classical and Quantum Gravity · doi:10.1088/1361-6382/ac4fbb · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Hiscock, W. A.
- Affiliations
- Montana State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hiscock, William A
- Venue
- Classical and Quantum Gravity
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 1997-11-01
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- L183-L188
- ISSN
- 0264-9381 (ISSN-L)
- 1361-6382
- OpenAlex
- W2090490735
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 1.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Classical and Quantum Gravity (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (9511794)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Relativity and Gravitational Theory
- Keywords
- Alcubierre warp drive, quantum stress-energy tensor, conformally invariant scalar field, Hartle-Hawking state, event horizon, two-dimensional reduction, quantum field theory in curved spacetime
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