Science fiction novels and films are filled with far-fetched ideas and are often the starting point for an action-packed adventure rather than a serious attempt to predict future trends in science or technology. Some of the most common metaphors, such as accelerating a spacecraft to fantastic speeds in a matter of seconds without crushing passengers, are simply impossible according to the laws of physics as we understand them. However, these same laws seem to allow for other seemingly implausible sci-fi concepts, from wormholes to parallel universes. Here is a summary of some of the sci-fi ideas that can be made, at least in theory.
wormholes
The idea of a wormhole, a shortcut through space that allows nearly instantaneous travel between distant parts of the universe, appears to have been created like a fairy-tale leader. But under the more formal name of the Einstein-Rosen bridge, the concept had existed as a serious theoretical concept long before science fiction writers understood it. get out of Albert Einstein‘s general theory of relativitydo you see gravity Like the distortion of spacetime caused by massive objects. Together with physicist Nathan Rosen, Einstein developed a theory in 1935 that suggested the existence of an extremely strong gravitational force, such as black holes, can be directly related to each other. Thus the idea of wormholes was born.
The forces surrounding a black hole would destroy anyone who got close to it, so the idea of traveling through a wormhole wasn’t seriously considered until the 1980s, when astrophysicist Carl Sagan decided he’d write a science novel. to me BBCSagan encouraged fellow physicist Kip Thorne to devise a viable way to travel interstellar distances in a jiffy. Thorne duly devised a method – theoretically possible, but unlikely in practice – by which a human could achieve interstellar travel by crossing a wormhole unscathed. The result found its way into Sagan’s novel.llama(Simon and Schuster: 1985) which was later made into a movie with Jodie Foster in the title role.
While wormholes are unlikely to become such a simple and convenient means of transportation as shown in the movies, scientists have now come up with more. A viable method for constructing a wormhole From Thorne’s original suggestion. It is also possible that if there are indeed wormholes in the universe, their location can be determined using the new generation of gravitational wave detectors.
motor deformity
The prerequisite for most space adventure stories is the ability to get from A to B much faster than we can today. Aside from wormholes, there are many obstacles to achieving this using a conventional spacecraft. There’s the huge amount of fuel required, the overwhelming effects of acceleration, and the fact that the universe has it Strictly imposed speed limit. This is the speed at which light travels, exactly one speed Light year per year, which is not fast in the cosmic context. Proxima Centauri, the second closest star to Earth, is 4.2 light years from the Sun, while the Galactic Center is 27,000 light years away.
Fortunately, there is a loophole in the cosmic speed limit: it only determines the maximum speed we can travel. through space. As Einstein explained, space itself can be distorted, so perhaps the space around the spacecraft can be manipulated in a way that subverts the speed limits. A spaceship would still travel through surrounding space at less than the speed of light, but space itself would move faster than that.
This was what Star Trek writers had in mind when they came up with the concept of a “warp engine” in the 1960s, but to them it was just a reasonable claim and not actual physics. It wasn’t until 1994 that theorist Miguel Alcubierre found a solution to Einstein’s equations that produced the effect of the True Torsion Engine, the sister site of Live Science. Reported by Space.com, which reduces the space in front of the spacecraft and expands it towards the stern. First, Alcubierre’s solution is no less innovative than Thorne’s transient wormhole, but scientists are trying to improve it in the hope that it will one day be practical.
time travel
One of the greatest plot assets in science fiction is the concept of a time machine, allowing characters to go back and change the course of history, for better or worse. But this inevitably raises logical paradoxes. In Back to the Future, for example, would Doc have built his own time machine if Marty hadn’t visited him in the future using the same machine? Because of paradoxes like this, many people assume that time travel should be impossible in the real world; However, according to the laws of physics, can really happen.
As with wormholes and space curvatures, the physics that tell us time travel is possible comes from Einstein’s general theory of relativity. This treats space and time as being part of the same ‘space-time’ chain, as the two are closely related. Just as we talk about distorting space with a wormhole or a warp drive, time can also be distorted. Sometimes it can deform so much that it folds back in on itself, in what scientists call “closed curve in time– although it could accurately be called a time machine.
A conceptual design for this time machine was published in 1974 by physicist Frank Tipler, according to physicist David Lewis Anderson, who describes research on Anderson InstitutePrivate research lab. Called a Tipler cylinder, it must be large, at least 60 miles (97 kilometers) long, according to Humble, and extremely dense, with a total mass similar to that of the Sun. To function as a time machine, the cylinder would have to spin fast enough to warp spacetime to the point where time bends back in on itself. It may not seem as simple as installing a DeLorean flow capacitor, but it has the advantage that it will actually work, at least on paper.
instant transfer
The original sci-fi example of teleportation is “Star Trek”.“ A carrier, as the name suggests, is simply described as a convenient means of transporting people from one place to another. But teleportation is very different from any other form of teleportation: Instead of the traveler moving through space from the starting point to the destination, teleportation results in the creation of a replica at the destination while the original is destroyed. Given these terms, and at the level of subatomic particles rather than humans, teleportation is indeed possible, according to IBM.
The real world process is called quantum teleportation. This process copies the exact quantum state of a particle, such as a photon, to another particle that may be hundreds of kilometers away. Quantum teleportation destroys the quantum state of the first photon, so it actually appears as if the photon was magically teleported from one place to another. The scam is based on what Einstein called “terrifying remote work,” but is officially known as Quantum entanglement. If a photon to be “teleported” contacts one of a pair of entangled photons, and the resulting state measurement is sent to the receiving end, where the other entangled photon is, then the last photon can be switched. to the same situation. Like a teleported photon.
It’s a complex process even for a single photon, and there’s no way the teleportation system seen in “Star Trek” can be scaled up. However, quantum teleportation has that Important applications In the real world, such as hacker-resistant communications and ultra-fast quantum computing.
parallel universes
The universe is all that our telescopes reveal to us: all billions of galaxies are expanding outward the big explosion. But is that all? The theory says maybe not: there could be everything multiverse of the universes there. The idea of ”parallel universes” is another familiar sci-fi topic, but when viewed on screen, it generally differs from our idea only in small details. But the truth can be even stranger than that, because basic parameters of physics in a parallel universe, such as gravitational force or nuclear forces, are different from ours. A classic description of a truly different universe of this kind, and the creatures that inhabit it, is Isaac Asimov’s novel The Gods Themselves.“(double day: 1972).
Key to the modern understanding of parallel universes is the concept of “eternal inflation”. This represents the structure of infinite space in a state of constant and incredibly rapid expansion. Occasionally, a point in this space (a large independent explosion) erupts from general expansion and begins to grow at a quieter rate, allowing physical objects such as stars and galaxies to form within it. According to this theory, our universe is one of these regions, but there could be many others.
As in Asimov’s story, these parallel universes can have very different physical parameters than our own. At one time, scientists believed that universes with roughly the same parameters as ours could support life, but recent studies suggest that the situation may not be as limited as this. Live Science previously reported. So there is hope for Asimov’s aliens so far, albeit not contacted, as in the novel. However, the effects of other universes may be detectable to us by other means. It has even been suggested that the mysterious “cold spot” in the cosmic microwave background is the scar from the collision with a parallel universe, writes Evan Baldry, professor of astrophysics at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. conversation.
Originally published in Live Science.
