ArticlePDF Available Toward an Interstellar Mission: Zeroing in on the Zero-Point-Field Inertia Resonance September 1999 While still an admittedly remote possibility, the concept of an interstellar mission has become a legitimate topic for scientific discussion as evidenced by several recent NASA activities and programs. One approach is to extrapolate present-day technologies by orders of magnitude; the other is to find new regimes in physics and to search for possible new laws of physics. Recent work on the zero-point field (ZPF), or electromagnetic quantum vacuum, is promising in regard to the latter, especially concerning the possibility that the inertia of matter may, at least in part, be attributed to interaction between the quarks and electrons in matter and the ZPF. A NASA-funded study (independent of the BPP program) of this concept has been underway since 1996 at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto and the California State University at Long Beach. We report on a new development resulting from this effort: that for the specific case of the electron, a resonance for the inertia-generating process at the Compton frequency would simultaneously explain both the inertial mass of the electron and the de Broglie wavelength of a moving electron as first measured by Davisson and Germer in 1927. This line of investigation is leading to very suggestive connections between electrodynamics, inertia, gravitation and the wave nature of matter. Comment: Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF-2000) Conference on Enabling Technology and Required Developments for Interstellar Missions, 7 pages, no figs Discover the world's 25+ million 160+ million publication 2.3+ billion Content uploaded by Alfonso Rueda Content may be subject to copyright. Bernhard Haisch Alfonso Rueda California State University, Long Beach Citations (3)References (31) Join for free Public Full-text Author content 2000TheAmericanInstituteofPhysics tobepublishedinAIPConferenceProceedingsofthe SpaceTechnologyandApplicationsInternationalForum(STAIF-2000) ConferenceonEnablingTechnologyandRequiredScientificDevelopmentsforInterstellarMissions January30February3,2000,Albuquerque,NM TOWARD AN INTERSTELLAR MISSION: ZEROING IN ON THE ZERO-POINT-FIELD INERTIA RESONANCE Bernhard Haisch and Alfonso Rueda Solar & AstrophysicsLaboratory, Lockheed Martin, L9-41, B252, 3251 Hanover St., Palo Alto, CA 94304 Recruit researchersJoin for freeLogin Download full-text PDFDownload citationCopy link Your privacy choices We and our partners store and access non-sensitive information from your device, like cookies, and process personal data, like IP addresses and unique identifiers to personalize content and ads, measure performance, and analyze audiences. By clicking Accept, you consent to this data collection and processing by us and our 228 partners. You can select Reject to continue with only strictly necessary cookies or Customize to manage your preferences. Some processing of your personal data may not require your consent, but you have a right to object to such processing. You can withdraw your consent at any time from the consent preferences link in the footer of any ResearchGate page. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. CustomizeRejectAccept arXiv:physics/9909043v1 [physics.gen-ph] 2 Dept.of ElectricalEng.and Dept.of Physics & Astronomy, California State Univ., Long Beach, CA 90840
[email protected] [email protected] Abstract.Whilestillanadmittedlyremotepossibility,thec onceptofaninterstellarmissionha s becomealegitimatetopicforscientificdiscussionasevidencedbyseveralrecentNASAactivitiesand programs.Oneapproachistoextrapolatepresent-daytechnologiesbyordersofmagnitude;theother istofindnewr e gimesinphysicsandtosearchforpossiblenewlawsofphysics.Recentworko n thezero-pointfield(ZPF),orelectromagneticquantumvacuum,ispromisinginregardtothelatter, especiallyc oncerningthepossibilitythattheinertiaofmattermay,atleastinpart,beattributed tointeractionbetweenthequarksandelectronsinmatterandtheZPF.ANASA-fundedstudy (independentoftheBPPpro gram)ofthisconcepthasbeenunderwaysince1996attheLockheed MartinAdvancedTechnologyCenterinPaloAltoandtheCaliforniaStateUniversityatLongBeach. Werep ortonanewdevelopmentre sultingfromthiseffort:thatforthespecificcaseoftheelectron,a resonancefortheinertia-generatingprocessattheComptonfrequencywouldsimultaneouslyex plain boththeinertialmassoftheelectronandthedeBrogliewavelengthofamovingelectronasfirst measuredbyDavissonandGermerin1927.Thislineofinvestigationisleadingtoverysuggestive connectionsbetweenelectrodynamics,inertia,gravitationandthewavenatureofmatter. BACKGROUND Althoughatthistimetherearenoknownorplausibletechnologieswhichwouldmakeinterstellartr avel possible,theconceptofaninterstellarmiss ionhasrecentlystartedtobecomealegitimatetopicforscientific discussion.InJuly1996NASAformallyestablishedaBreakthroughPro pulsionPhysics(BPP)Progr am. Theinitiationo faprogramoperatingundertheauspicesofNASAprovidesaforumforideaswhichare requiredtobebo thandvisionarycredible.ThisapproachwasdesignedbyprogrammanagerMarcMillisto provideavaluableandnecessaryfilterfo rideasandtheirproponents.ThefirstBPPactivitywasaworkshop heldinAugust1997tocarryoutaninitialsurveyofconcepts;thisisnowavailableasaNASAconference proceedings(NASA/CP1999-208694).Followingadditionalfunding,theBPPprogramissuedaNASA ResearchAnnouncement(NRA)inNovember1998solicitingproposals.Outof60submissions,sixstudies wereselectedforfunding. Threeothereventsrelevanttointerstellarexplorationbutnotdirectlyc onnectedwiththeBPPprogramhave alsotakenplace.InFebruary1998,theMarshallSpaceFlightCenter(MSFC)hostedafo ur-dayworkshop onPhysicsfortheThirdMilleniumdirectedbyRonKoczo roftheMSFCSpaceScienceLaboratory.In July1998afour -dayworkshoponRoboticInterstellarExplorationintheNextCenturysponso redbythe AdvancedConceptsO fficeatJPLandtheNASAOfficeo fSpaceSciencewasheldatCaltech.InSeptem- ber1998anIndependentReviewPanelwasconvenedtoassesstheNASASpaceTransp ortationResearch Program(STRP).TheSTRPsupportssuchareasofinvestigationasfission-andfusion-basedadvanced propulsionandevenaser iousattempttoreplicateaclaimedDelta-gGravityModificationExperiment. AreportwasissuedinJanuary1999entitled:AdAstraperAspera:ReachingfortheStars. ThereporthadthefollowingtosayabouttheDelta-gGravityModificationExperiment: Anexperimentaldemonstrationofgravitymodification,regardlessofhowminute,wouldbe ofextraordinarysignificance.TheDelta-gexperimentsnowbeingcarrie doutatMSFCarean attempttoduplicateaclaimedanomalousweightlossofuptotwopercentinobjectsofvarious compositionssuspendedabovearotating12-inchdiameterTypeIIceramicsuperconductor.This apparentphenomenonwasdiscoveredbyaccidentduringsuperco nductingexperimentsbyaRussian scientist,Dr.EugenePodkletnov,thenworkingatTampereUniversityinFinland.Initialresultsof theMSFCreplicationhavebeenpublishedinPhysicaC,281,260,1997.AsofNovember1998the group,ledbyDavidNoe verandRonKoczor,hadmadea12-inchYBCOdiskthatsurvivedpressing andheattreatinginonepiece.Thisisnowbeingcharacterizedandcutuptodomechanicaltesting. Thenextstepistomakea2-layerdiskofthesortuse dbyPodkletnov. Therev iewcommitteewasimpres sedwiththehighqualityoftheresearchersandthecare- fulandmethodicalapproach.Webelievethatthisresea rchisaprimecandidateforcontinued STRsuppor tandurgethatfundingisadeq uatetope rmitadefinitivereplicationtobecarriedto completion. Inallofthesea c tivities(inwhichthefirstauthorparticipated)itbecameclearthattherearetwoapproaches toconceptualizinganinterstellarmission.Thefirstistoextrapolatecer tainrelevantpres ent-daytechnologies byordersofmagnitudeandthenseew hatpossibilitiesmightemerge.Oneexamplediscussedatthe Caltechworkshopwouldbeacraftpr opelledbyalaser-pushedlightsailbutthiswouldrequirea1000... Your privacy choices We and our partners store and access non-sensitive information from your device, like cookies, and process personal data, like IP addresses and unique identifiers to personalize content and ads, measure performance, and analyze audiences. By clicking Accept, you consent to this data collection and processing by us and our 228 partners. You can select Reject to continue with only strictly necessary cookies or Customize to manage your preferences. Some processing of your personal data may not require your consent, but you have a right to object to such processing. You can withdraw your consent at any time from the consent preferences link in the footer of any ResearchGate page. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. km-diametersailanda10km-diameterlenshavinga nopen-looppointingcapabilityof10 arcsec(given afeedbacktimeofyears):quiteaformidablechallenge! Anotherknowntechnologypushedtothelimitexampleisbas e donproductionandstorageofhugeamo unts ofanti-matter.Thismakesagoodexampleofoverwhelmingtechnicaldifficultiesinpushingpresent-day technology.Basedonenergyargumentsalo ne(i.e.ignoringtheissueofspecificimpulse)onecanachievea sp e e dof0.1byannihilating0.5percentofthemassofastarship;thisissimplycalculatedbyequatingthec finalkineticenergyofthestarship,m /v.c2,where=01,totherestenergyoftheprope llant,m approximationinthisregime.Itwouldtakeane qualamountofenergytostop,andsimilarlyforthereturn toEarth.Underpe rfectlyidealconditionsthen,onepercentofthemassofthestarshipinantimatterand onepercentinordinarymatterwould,inprinciple,sufficeaspropellant.Onehundredpercentefficiencyfor conversiono frestmassenergyintokineticenergyisoutofthequestion.Letustakeanoptimistic10percent. Thismeansthatforastarshipasmodestasthespaceshuttleinsizeabout100tons,hardlyadequatefor acentury-longoutandbackmissiontoAlphaCentaurionewouldrequire10tonsofantimatter. Themanufactureofantiprotonsisex tremelyinefficient.TechniquesforcreatingantiprotonsatCERNrequire approximatelytwoandone-halfmillionprotonseachacceleratedtoanenergyof26GeVtocreateasingle antiproton.Thisamountstoanenergyefficiencyof310 .Thisisfurtherreducedbyafactorof20orso fortheefficiencyoftheprotonaccelerator,leavinganetefficiencyofperhaps151 0. ,i.e.aboutonepart inabillion!Atacostof5centsperkilowatt-hourofelectricitythecostof10tonsofantiprotonswouldbe dollars.Agoodwaytoimaginethisistos aythatitrepresentsthetotalcurrentU.S.federalbudget (app.$1.2trillio nperyear)spenteveryyearforthenext1 .2billionyears(cf.M.R.LaPointe,NASASBIR PhaseIFinalReportforcontractNAS8-98109).Othertechnologicalextrapo lationsforpropulsiondiscussed inthevariousworkshopsandreviewssufferfro msimilartremendousorder-of-magnitudeproblems.Building astarshipbasedo nextrapolationofknowntechnologymightbelikenedtoinsistingonbuildingsomekind ofsailingshipcapableofcro ssingtheAtlanticin6hours,whenonereallyha stodiscoverflighttodothat. Thesecondapproachistotrytofindnewregimesinphysicsorperhapsevennewlawsofphysics.When Alcubierre(1994)publishedhisarticle,TheWarpDrive:Hyper-fastTravelwithinGeneralRelativity, thisarousedcons iderableenthusiasmsinceitdemonstratedthat,inprinciple,generalrelativityallowedfor localmetricmodificationsresultinginexpansionofspacefasterthanthespeed-of-light.Indeed,asiswell knownincos mology,thereisnospeedlimittotheexpansionofspaceitself;inconventionalinflationarybig bangtheorytheremustberegionsoftheUniversebeyondoureventhorizonwhoseHubblespe e d(relative tous)isgreaterthanandthisinnowayconflictswithspecialrelativity.Relativitymerelyforbidsmotionc throughspacefasterthan.Alcubierredemonstratedthatthemathematicsofgeneralrelativityallowedforc thecreationofwhatmightbetermedabubbleofordinaryflat(Minkowski)spaceinwhichastarship couldbesituatedthatcouldsurf,sotospea k,atarbitrarilylargespeedsonaspacetimedistortion,a fastertha nlightstretchingofspacetime;thiswouldindeedbeawarpdrive.TheAlcubierrebubblewassoon burst,though,byPfenningandFord(1997)whoshowedthatitwouldrequiremoreenergythanthatofthe entireUniversetocreatetheextre melywarpedspacenecessary.Howeverrec e ntlyVandenBroeck(1999) hasshownthatthisenergyrequirementcanbereducedby32ordersofmagnitudeviaaslightchangeinthe Alcubierregeometry.Whilethisstillleavesusalongwayfromafeasibleinterstellartechnology,warping spaceorcreatingwormholesarephysicspo ssibilitiesmeritingfurthertheor e ticalexplor ation. Anotherregimeofnewphysicsisinactualityalmostacenturyold.Theconceptofanelectro magnetic zero-pointfieldwasdevelopedby,amongothers,Planck,EinsteinandNernst.Ifa nenergeticseaofele c - tromagneticfluctuationscomprisingtheelec tromagneticquantumvacuumfillstheUniverseforreasons discussedbelowthenthissuggeststhepossibilityofgeneratingpropulsivefor c e sorextractingenergy anywhereinspace.Evenmoreintriguingpossibilitiesareopenedbythelinkedproposedconceptsthatgrav- itationandinertiamayor iginateinthezero-pointfield.Ifbothgravitationandinertiaaremanifestationsof theva cuummediumandinpar ticula rofitselectromagneticcomponent,theZPF,theycanbetreatedbythe techniquesofelectrodynamics,andperhapstheycanbema nipulated.Theconceptofgravityma nipulatio n hasbeenastapleofsciencefiction,butinfactinertiamanipulationwouldbeevenmorefarreaching.As excitingasitwouldbetoreducethe(gravitational)weightofalaunchvehicletoz e ro,thiswouldmerelysetif freefromthegravitationalpotentialwelloftheEarthandoftheSun.Theproblemofaddingkineticenergy toreachhighinterstellarvelocitieswouldremainunlessonecanmodifyinertia.Modificationofinertia... would(a)reduceenergyrequirementstoattainagivenvelocityand(b)possiblyallowgreatlyenhanced accelerations.Thelatterwouldopenmanypossibilitiessinceitwouldbefarmoreefficienttohaveaperhaps enormouslylargeaccelerationdevicethatneverhastoleavethegroundandneedstoactoveronlyashort distancetorapidlyimpartahugeimpulse,slingshottingastarshiponitsway.(Weas sumethattheinertia ofeverythinginsidethestarshipwouldb emodifiedaswell.Forthetimebeingweoverlooktheproblemof decelerationattheendofthejourney,itbeingprudenttotackleonlyoneapparentimpossibilityatatime.) Your privacy choices We and our partners store and access non-sensitive information from your device, like cookies, and process personal data, like IP addresses and unique identifiers to personalize content and ads, measure performance, and analyze audiences. By clicking Accept, you consent to this data collection and processing by us and our 228 partners. You can select Reject to continue with only strictly necessary cookies or Customize to manage your preferences. Some processing of your personal data may not require your consent, but you have a right to object to such processing. You can withdraw your consent at any time from the consent preferences link in the footer of any ResearchGate page. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. Thec onceptofinertiamodificationmayforeverremainapracticalimpossibility.Howeveratthemomentit hasb e c omealegitimatetheoreticalpossibility.Inthefollowingsectionswesummarizearecentlydeveloped theoreticalconnectionbe tweentheZPFandinertiaandreportonthediscoverythataspecificresonance frequencyislikelytobeinvolved.Itisshownthatsucharesonancewouldsimultaneouslyofferanexpla nation forboththeinertiaofaparticleandthedeBro gliewavelengthofthatparticleinmotionasfirstmeasured forelectronsbyDavissonandGermer(1927). THE ELECTROMAGNETIC ZERO-POINT FIELD Thenecessaryexistenceofanelectromag neticzero-pointfieldcanbeshownfromconsiderationofelementary quantummechanics.TheHeisenberguncertaintyrelationtellsusthataharmonicoscillatormusthavea minimumenergyof h/2,where histhePlanckcons tantdividedby2andistheoscillationfrequency inunitsofradianspersecond.(Expressedincyclesperse c ond,Hz,thisminimumenergyis2.)Thish/ isthezero-pointenergyofaharmonicoscillator,thederivationofwhichisastandarde xampleinmany introductoryquantumtextbooks. Theelectromagneticfieldissubjecttoas imila rquantization:thisisdonebytheassociationofaquantum- mechanicalhar monicos c illatorwithe achmodeoftheradiationfield(cf.Loudon1983).Thesame2h/ zero-pointenergyisfoundineachmodeofthefield,whereamo deo fthefieldcanbethoughtofasaplane wavespecifiedbyitsfrequency(),directiona lpropagationvector( k),andoneoftwopolarizationstates ().Summingupoverallplanewavesonearrivesatthezero-pointenergydensityfortheelectromagnetic isapresumedhigh-frequencycutoff,oftentakentobethePlanckfrequency, Hz.(Seetheappendixforabr ie fdiscussionofthePlanckfrequency).Withthisassumedcutoff, theenerg ydensitybecomesthesame(withinafactorof2 )asthemaximumenergydensitythatspacetime cansustain:with ,theZPFenergydensityis h.Thisisontheorderof10 .ThetermZPEisoftenusedtorefertothiselectromagneticenergyofthezero-pointfluctuations ofthequantumvacuum.Notethatthestrongandweakinteractionsalsohaveassociatedzero-pointenergies. Theseshouldalsocontributetoinertia.Theirexactcontributionsremaintobedeterminedsincewehaveyet toconsidertheseinthepresentcontext.Fornowwerestrictourselvestotheelectromagneticcontribution. CanonetakeseriouslytheconceptthattheentireUniverseisfilledwithabackgroundseaofelectromagnetic zero-pointenergythatisnearly100orderso fmagnitudebeyondtheenergye quivalentofordinarymatter density?Theconceptisinherentlynomoreunreasonableinmodernphysicsthattha tofthevastDirac seaofnegativeenergyanti-particles.Moreoverthederivationofthezero-pointenergyfromtheHeisenberg uncertaintyrelationandthecountingofmodesissoelementarythatitbeco mesconvolutedtotrytosimply argueawaytheZPF.Theo bjectionthatmostimmediatelyarisesisacosmo logicalone:thattheenormous energydensityoftheZPFshould,byge neralrelativity,curvetheentireUniverseintoaballordersof magnitudesmallerthanthenucleusofanatom.OurcontentionisthattheZPFplaysakeyroleingiving