Article fom Gary Voss:
EVERY year, the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics awards prizes for the best papers presented at its annual
conference. Last year's winner in the nuclear and future flight category went to
a paper calling for experimental tests of an astonishing new type of engine.
According to the paper, this hyperdrive motor would propel a craft through
another dimension at enormous speeds. It could leave Earth at lunchtime and get
to the moon in time for dinner. There's just one catch: the idea relies on an
obscure and largely unrecognised kind of physics. Can they possibly be
serious?
The AIAA is certainly not embarrassed. What's more, the US
military has begun to cast its eyes over the hyperdrive concept, and a space
propulsion researcher at the US Department of Energy's Sandia National
Laboratories has said he would be interested in putting the idea to the test.
And despite the bafflement of most physicists at the theory that supposedly
underpins it, Pavlos Mikellides, an aerospace engineer at the Arizona State
University in Tempe who reviewed the winning paper, stands by the committee's
choice. "Even though such features have been explored before, this particular
approach is quite unique," he says.
Unique it certainly is. If the
experiment gets the go-ahead and works, it could reveal new interactions between
the fundamental forces of nature that would change the future of space travel.
Forget spending six months or more holed up in a rocket on the way to Mars, a
round trip on the hyperdrive could take as little as 5 hours. All our worries
about astronauts' muscles wasting away or their DNA being irreparably damaged by
cosmic radiation would disappear overnight. What's more the device would put
travel to the stars within reach for the first time. But can the hyperdrive
really get off the ground?
The answer to that question hinges on the work
of a little-known German physicist. Burkhard Heim began to explore the
hyperdrive propulsion concept in the 1950s as a spin-off from his attempts to
heal the biggest divide in physics: the rift between quantum mechanics and
Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Quantum theory describes the
realm of the very small - atoms, electrons and elementary particles - while
general relativity deals with gravity. The two theories are immensely successful
in their separate spheres. The clash arises when it comes to describing the
basic structure of space. In general relativity, space-time is an active,
malleable fabric. It has four dimensions - three of space and one of time - that
deform when masses are placed in them. In Einstein's formulation, the force of
gravity is a result of the deformation of these dimensions. Quantum theory, on
the other hand, demands that space is a fixed and passive stage, something
simply there for particles to exist on. It also suggests that space itself must
somehow be made up of discrete, quantum elements.
In the early 1950s,
Heim began to rewrite the equations of general relativity in a quantum
framework. He drew on Einstein's idea that the gravitational force emerges from
the dimensions of space and time, but suggested that all fundamental forces,
including electromagnetism, might emerge from a new, different set of
dimensions. Originally he had four extra dimensions, but he discarded two of
them believing that they did not produce any forces, and settled for adding a
new two-dimensional "sub-space" onto Einstein's four-dimensional
space-time.
In Heim's six-dimensional world, the forces of gravity and
electromagnetism are coupled together. Even in our familiar four-dimensional
world, we can see a link between the two forces through the behaviour of
fundamental particles such as the electron. An electron has both mass and
charge. When an electron falls under the pull of gravity its moving electric
charge creates a magnetic field. And if you use an electromagnetic field to
accelerate an electron you move the gravitational field associated with its
mass. But in the four dimensions we know, you cannot change the strength of
gravity simply by cranking up the electromagnetic field.
In Heim's view
of space and time, this limitation disappears. He claimed it is possible to
convert electromagnetic energy into gravitational and back again, and speculated
that a rotating magnetic field could reduce the influence of gravity on a
spacecraft enough for it to take off.
When he presented his idea in
public in 1957, he became an instant celebrity. Wernher von Braun, the German
engineer who at the time was leading the Saturn rocket programme that later
launched astronauts to the moon, approached Heim about his work and asked
whether the expensive Saturn rockets were worthwhile. And in a letter in 1964,
the German relativity theorist Pascual Jordan, who had worked with the
distinguished physicists Max Born and Werner Heisenberg and was a member of the
Nobel committee, told Heim that his plan was so important "that its successful
experimental treatment would without doubt make the researcher a candidate for
the Nobel prize".
But all this attention only led Heim to retreat from
the public eye. This was partly because of his severe multiple disabilities,
caused by a lab accident when he was still in his teens. But Heim was also
reluctant to disclose his theory without an experiment to prove it. He never
learned English because he did not want his work to leave the country. As a
result, very few people knew about his work and no one came up with the
necessary research funding. In 1958 the aerospace company Bölkow did offer some
money, but not enough to do the proposed experiment.
While Heim waited
for more money to come in, the company's director, Ludwig Bölkow, encouraged him
to develop his theory further. Heim took his advice, and one of the results was
a theorem that led to a series of formulae for calculating the masses of the
fundamental particles - something conventional theories have conspicuously
failed to achieve. He outlined this work in 1977 in the Max Planck Institute's
journal Zeitschrift für Naturforschung, his only peer-reviewed paper. In an
abstruse way that few physicists even claim to understand, the formulae work out
a particle's mass starting from physical characteristics, such as its charge and
angular momentum.
Yet the theorem has proved surprisingly powerful. The
standard model of physics, which is generally accepted as the best available
theory of elementary particles, is incapable of predicting a particle's mass.
Even the accepted means of estimating mass theoretically, known as lattice
quantum chromodynamics, only gets to between 1 and 10 per cent of the
experimental values.
Gravity
reduction
But in 1982, when researchers at the German Electron
Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg implemented Heim's mass theorem in a computer
program, it predicted masses of fundamental particles that matched the measured
values to within the accuracy of experimental error. If they are let down by
anything, it is the precision to which we know the values of the fundamental
constants. Two years after Heim's death in 2001, his long-term collaborator
Illobrand von Ludwiger calculated the mass formula using a more accurate
gravitational constant. "The masses came out even more precise," he
says.
After publishing the mass formulae, Heim never really looked at
hyperspace propulsion again. Instead, in response to requests for more
information about the theory behind the mass predictions, he spent all his time
detailing his ideas in three books published in German. It was only in 1980,
when the first of his books came to the attention of a retired Austrian patent
officer called Walter Dröscher, that the hyperspace propulsion idea came back to
life. Dröscher looked again at Heim's ideas and produced an "extended" version,
resurrecting the dimensions that Heim originally discarded. The result is
"Heim-Dröscher space", a mathematical description of an eight-dimensional
universe.
From this, Dröscher claims, you can derive the four forces
known in physics: the gravitational and electromagnetic forces, and the strong
and weak nuclear forces. But there's more to it than that. "If Heim's picture is
to make sense," Dröscher says, "we are forced to postulate two more fundamental
forces." These are, Dröscher claims, related to the familiar gravitational
force: one is a repulsive anti-gravity similar to the dark energy that appears
to be causing the universe's expansion to accelerate. And the other might be
used to accelerate a spacecraft without any rocket fuel.
This force is a
result of the interaction of Heim's fifth and sixth dimensions and the extra
dimensions that Dröscher introduced. It produces pairs of "gravitophotons",
particles that mediate the interconversion of electromagnetic and gravitational
energy. Dröscher teamed up with Jochem Häuser, a physicist and professor of
computer science at the University of Applied Sciences in Salzgitter, Germany,
to turn the theoretical framework into a proposal for an experimental test. The
paper they produced, "Guidelines for a space propulsion device based on Heim's
quantum theory", is what won the AIAA's award last year.
Claims of the
possibility of "gravity reduction" or "anti-gravity" induced by magnetic fields
have been investigated by NASA before (New Scientist, 12 January 2002, p 24).
But this one, Dröscher insists, is different. "Our theory is not about
anti-gravity. It's about completely new fields with new properties," he says.
And he and Häuser have suggested an experiment to prove it.
This will
require a huge rotating ring placed above a superconducting coil to create an
intense magnetic field. With a large enough current in the coil, and a large
enough magnetic field, Dröscher claims the electromagnetic force can reduce the
gravitational pull on the ring to the point where it floats free. Dröscher and
Häuser say that to completely counter Earth's pull on a 150-tonne spacecraft a
magnetic field of around 25 tesla would be needed. While that's 500,000 times
the strength of Earth's magnetic field, pulsed magnets briefly reach field
strengths up to 80 tesla. And Dröscher and Häuser go further. With a
faster-spinning ring and an even stronger magnetic field, gravitophotons would
interact with conventional gravity to produce a repulsive anti-gravity force,
they suggest.
Dröscher is hazy about the details, but he suggests that a
spacecraft fitted with a coil and ring could be propelled into a
multidimensional hyperspace. Here the constants of nature could be different,
and even the speed of light could be several times faster than we experience. If
this happens, it would be possible to reach Mars in less than 3 hours and a star
11 light years away in only 80 days, Dröscher and Häuser say.
So is this
all fanciful nonsense, or a revolution in the making? The majority of physicists
have never heard of Heim theory, and most of those contacted by New Scientist
said they couldn't make sense of Dröscher and Häuser's description of the theory
behind their proposed experiment. Following Heim theory is hard work even
without Dröscher's extension, says Markus Pössel, a theoretical physicist at the
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany. Several
years ago, while an undergraduate at the University of Hamburg, he took a
careful look at Heim theory. He says he finds it "largely incomprehensible", and
difficult to tie in with today's physics. "What is needed is a step-by-step
introduction, beginning at modern physical concepts," he says.
The
general consensus seems to be that Dröscher and Häuser's theory is incomplete at
best, and certainly extremely difficult to follow. And it has not passed any
normal form of peer review, a fact that surprised the AIAA prize reviewers when
they made their decision. "It seemed to be quite developed and ready for such
publication," Mikellides told New Scientist.
At the moment, the main
reason for taking the proposal seriously must be Heim theory's uncannily
successful prediction of particle masses. Maybe, just maybe, Heim theory really
does have something to contribute to modern physics. "As far as I understand it,
Heim theory is ingenious," says Hans Theodor Auerbach, a theoretical physicist
at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich who worked with Heim. "I
think that physics will take this direction in the future."
It may be a
long while before we find out if he's right. In its present design, Dröscher and
Häuser's experiment requires a magnetic coil several metres in diameter capable
of sustaining an enormous current density. Most engineers say that this is not
feasible with existing materials and technology, but Roger Lenard, a space
propulsion researcher at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico thinks it
might just be possible. Sandia runs an X-ray generator known as the Z machine
which "could probably generate the necessary field intensities and
gradients".
For now, though, Lenard considers the theory too shaky to
justify the use of the Z machine. "I would be very interested in getting Sandia
interested if we could get a more perspicacious introduction to the mathematics
behind the proposed experiment," he says. "Even if the results are negative,
that, in my mind, is a successful experiment."
From issue 2533 of New Scientist magazine, 05 January
2006, page 24
Who was Burkhard
Heim?
Burkhard Heim had a remarkable life. Born in 1925 in
Potsdam, Germany, he decided at the age of 6 that he wanted to become a rocket
scientist. He disguised his designs in code so that no one could discover his
secret. And in the cellar of his parents' house, he experimented with high
explosives. But this was to lead to disaster.
Towards the end of the
second world war, he worked as an explosives developer, and an accident in 1944
in which a device exploded in his hands left him permanently disabled. He lost
both his forearms, along with 90 per cent of his hearing and
eyesight.
After the war, he attended university in Göttingen to study
physics. The idea of propelling a spacecraft using quantum mechanics rather than
rocket fuel led him to study general relativity and quantum mechanics. It took
an enormous effort. From 1948, his father and wife replaced his senses, spending
hours reading papers and transcribing his calculations onto paper. And he
developed a photographic memory.
Supporters of Heim theory claim that it
is a panacea for the troubles in modern physics. They say it unites quantum
mechanics and general relativity, can predict the masses of the building blocks
of matter from first principles, and can even explain the state of the universe
13.7 billion years ago.
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