Warp Drive News. Seriously!

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What is a warp drive? Are they scientifically possible? How does the Alcubierre drive work? That's what we talk about today.

The paper has now been published here:

An open-access version is here:

You can find more information about the authors' work here:

When I talk about energy conservation around 7 mins, I am NOT referring to the conservation of the stress-energy-tensor. This is conservation is always fulfilled if Einstein's field equations are fulfilled by way of the (contracted) Bianchi identities. I am talking about the conservation of the four-momentum (the integrated quantity) that is associated with the warp-drive bubble. In an asymptotically flat space-time, it should be conserved. If the bubble accelerates, it isn't. (As you'd expect.)

#physics #space #science

0:00 Intro and Motivation
0:46 What is a Warp Drive?
2:47 The Alcubierre Drive
3:54 General Relativity Background
6:09 The Problem with the Alcubierre Drive
7:26 New Paper
9:37 What the new paper may be good for

[aarongrooves]

"The only way to make progress is to not be afraid of learning more."
- I love you for this.

[nelsonclub]

I tried reading Einstein's original paper on special relativity.
Night after night for 6 months I tried to understand it. I tried everything. I looked through previous publications to understand the knowledge at the time. I tried to work through some problems and I thought about the theories in novel ways to try to get an intuitive grasp or even any at all. It probably didn't help much that I didn't have the appropriate background in math. I tried learning the math, I even tried talking to experts. Still, nothing made sense. It just wouldn't click in my head. I toiled over this complex theory, wasting many notebooks of scrap paper trying to make sense of it. Many long nights later, I came to an amazing epiphany;
I can't read German.

[samuelbucher]

10:16 Oh, so the hypothetical spaceship has to be shaped like a disk, or a saucer, if you will.

What a minute...

[Thomas-gk]

These elder Sabine videos are still wonderful, thanks for working constantly on humanity's knowledge increase.❤

[zepcd]

What a privilege to be able to acces this kind of information. Unthinkable for common ppl outside universities only a decade ago. This is progress.

[hansadler]

A flat space ship requires less energy to make a warp bubble. So we need to make a saucer shaped spaceship? :)

[Kelberi]

When sabine says "seriously", I put down everything at warp speed and watch it immediately.

[mirastyle]

Love the propper pronounciation of Einstein :) plus the "there are equations for each combination of directions in spacetime" might just be my new favourite super simple explanation of underlying tensor algebra ever ...

[PeeGee]

Today on the news: "Warp drives require infinite quantities of negative energy"
Tomorrow on the news: "SpaceX acquires Facebook"

[Badkitty]

Aliens: So, how did you become warp capable?

Humans: We watched Star Trek and were hooked.

[benheideveld]

Best video ever. No bashing of particle physicists, self-revealing revelations, fascinating open ended vista’s. An optimistic outlook from Dr. Sabine. Addictive!

[codyheiner]

I think it's wonderful that it's becoming viable in research to release a paper that says "we don't know" or "here's why this idea is inconclusive".

[stringsbrainfingers]

I already knew all this stuff. I am building a warp drive engine in my basement. What I have so far, is a 4 x 4 sheet of plywood as the base.

[nsfolly]

"Not being afraid to learn more" is really synonymous with "don't become a slave to ideas". A professor of mine once said in passing "don't marry your ideas". It immediately resonated and stuck.

[andredelacerdasantos]

"The only way of making progress is not to be afraid of learning more" That's brilliant! I'd only like add that sometimes I find it impossible to not be afraid, and would change the "not being afraid of" bit for overcoming the fear.

[AlienScientist]

Videos like this are going to age VERY well! MORE OF THIS PLEASE SABINE!!!

[MeppyMan]

No such thing as reading “too much” science fiction 🤓

[bipo]

"And the only reason the Alcubierre drive moves faster than the speed of light is that one simply assumed it does"
My mind was blown right then and there. How come none of the videos on this topic mention this? Thank you for the enlightenment, Dr. Sabine! This is the sort of scientific honesty we need to think about questions like these, even if they come from science fiction.

[johnmarks]

The problem isn't breaking the barrier, but simply moving our speeds forward. Even decimal increments toward light speed will improve our current technological ability. I'm glad to see that people are actually working toward this goal. When I see how far we have come in just my lifetime, it gives me hope for the future.

[TheCD]

I'm a molecular biologist and I just discovered your channel! Thanks for the easier-to-digest physics content. I'm fond of astro- and particle physics whenever I'm off my work and I've been so far limited to the public engagements of Brian Cox, Sara Seager, and Tara Shears (and the likes)!