
The downside of warp drives: Annihilating whole star systems when you arrive - evo_9
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/140635-the-downside-of-warp-drives-annihilating-whole-star-systems-when-you-arrive
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WiseWeasel
Maybe by deforming the ring asymmetrically while slowing down, these stowaway
particles could be evacuated in a controlled direction.

I don't get how the speed of the craft affects the particle trap. Why would
they be released upon slowing down, and why would they radiate
unidirectionally rather than omnidirectionally or in the ring's plane upon
slowing down if they're caught in the ring's gravity well? Why does the
system's speed determine whether the particles are trapped?

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WiseWeasel
After reading the paper, it would seem that for null mass particles (which I
assume refers to light particles), when the warp bubble is traveling above the
speed of light, there is a point towards the front of the bubble where light
particles travelling in the same direction as the bubble are swept up and held
(a front horizon). As the bubble decelerates below the speed of light, the
front horizon moves forward outside of the warp bubble, at which point these
particles are released ahead of the ship at their regular speed of light, but
with an observed energy exponentially increased in relation to the time they
spent in the bubble. A similar effect is expected with massive particles
moving at near the speed of light in the direction of the bubble's travel,
which can apparently be accelerated to a speed nearer to that of light upon
exiting the front horizon.

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andrewflnr
The real shocker for me is that NASA is actually working on prototypes.

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robodale
This sounds more like a weapon than a method of travel.

