Ask Ethan: what scientific experiments will open the door to the future for us?

The ALPHA collaboration was the closest to measuring the behavior of neutral antimatter in a gravitational field. Results can open the way for amazing new technologies.

Dreams of instant messaging, interstellar ships and the ability to travel through time are all science fiction braces. In many ways, they represent the greatest hopes of mankind, but they are based on technologies that go beyond what is known in today's science. And yet, with the experiments going on at the forefront of discoveries, it is possible that a new door will open at any moment. If we are lucky - what awaits us immediately beyond the horizon? That is what reader Igor Zhbanov wants to know:

If we are lucky, what scientific experiments, planned for the next twenty years, can open up new ways for us to create science fiction technologies?

There are many fantastic opportunities that can change our reality by the end of the XXI century.


Everyone has ever invented rockets need some kind of fuel, but if you make an engine on dark matter, you can find a new fuel just by moving around the Galaxy

Dark matter (TM) can become an unlimited source of fuel that you will not need to carry with you. One of the greatest mysteries of science is the question of the nature of TM. Thanks to indirect measurements, we know about its existence and its huge amount. If you collect all the TM, which is present in such a large galaxy as ours, it will be five times more than normal matter (based on atoms). It almost certainly consists of particles with the following properties:

• they have mass,
• they have no electric or color charge,
• they interact gravitationally,
• and to some extent they must face themselves and with normal matter.

From the famous Einstein equation E = mc ^2, we know that tremendous energy is stored in TM: five times more than in all ordinary matter. If the Universe favors us, we may be able to use it.


The mass distribution in the cluster of galaxies Abell 370 , built on the basis of gravitational lensing, shows two large scattered halos of mass corresponding to the TM and two colliding clusters. Around and within each galaxy, cluster and a massive set of ordinary matter, there is 5 times more TM.

Many experiments are looking for collisions of TM with both normal and with itself. In total there are two types of particles: fermions (with half-integer spins) and bosons (with whole spins). If a TM consists of bosons, then it is most likely an antiparticle itself, which means that if you can catch a pair of TM particles and force them to interact with each other, they will annihilate. And if they annihilate, they will give out pure energy. In other words, it will be a free and unlimited source of energy, wherever you go, wherever you go. And since it is everywhere, you don’t even have to carry it with you on your way through the universe. Therefore, in the case of experiments looking for TM, the ultimate dream is unlimited and free energy.


Starpath warp field, shortening the space in front and extending from behind

Antimatter can have a negative mass, which means that it can be the key to creating a warp engine . If you want to travel to the stars, conventional energy and fuel sources will not allow you to travel too far. Or, literally, they will not let you travel too fast: you will always be limited by the speed of light. The nearest sun-like star with potentially livable planets, Tau Ceti , is 12 light years away, which means that a simple journey there and sending information about it back will take no less than a generation. But if we could compress the space in front of us on a journey through interstellar space, while expanding the space behind us, we could get there much faster. This idea is based on the warp engine, which in 1994 astrophysicist Miguel Alcubierre put on reliable physical rails.


Alcubierre's decision for the theory of relativity, which makes it possible to move in a manner similar to a warp engine. This solution requires negative mass.

To create the necessary space-time configuration required for a warp engine, two things are necessary: ​​a huge amount of energy and the existence of negative mass. This negative mass, the existence of which is only assumed, is necessary for the deformation of space-time in a special way, necessary for the realization of a warp engine. We have not yet measured the mass of antimatter particles; they fall in the gravitational field "up" or "down", we still have to check in the experiment. The ALPHA experiment at CERN is currently being conducted to measure the effects of gravity on antimatter and the behavior of antimatter in a gravitational field. If it turns out that it falls “upwards” in the gravitational field, we can get the negative mass we need, and the warp engine will be possible.


The Virtual IronBird tool for the centrifuge module (Centrifuge Accommodations Module, CAM) on the ISS is one of the ways to create artificial gravity, but it requires a lot of energy and allows you to create only a certain centripetal force. True artificial gravity would require negative mass manipulations.

Negative mass would also allow us to create artificial gravity. This possibility of the existence of negative mass in the Universe would allow us to create an artificial gravitational field in the way that we cannot do now. The existence of positive and negative charge in electromagnetism allows us to create conductors, thanks to which we can manipulate the electric field between them and close the electric field outside of them. Gravity, as we understand it now, has only one type of charge: positive mass. However, the existence of negative mass would allow us to create an environment with truly zero gravity, if we can adjust it correctly, and also give us the opportunity to create a field of artificial gravity of any power between the two systems with positive and negative mass.


The idea of ​​traveling back in time today belongs to science fiction. However, if closed time loops may exist in our Universe, this will not only be possible, but even inevitable.

A rotating universe could allow us to travel back in time. Time travel is not just possible, it is inevitable - in the direction ahead. When space and time are combined into a single fabric of space-time, a serious shake-up of the physics known to us today must occur, in order to permit travel back in time. It is fairly easy to return to the starting point in space; The Earth does this by returning to the starting point of the orbit around the Sun, but at the same time having advanced significantly in time (by one year). A closed spatial loop is easy to reach. But to return to the starting point in time, something unusual will be needed - there are no closed time loops in our expanding and filled with matter Universe. Unless, of course, the universe does not rotate.


For the appearance of closed time loops of rotation of one galaxy is not enough, you need to rotate the whole Universe

In a rotating Universe, there is an exact solution, in which, if the density of matter and the cosmological constant (or dark energy) have certain values, then there will be closed time loops in the Universe. So far, we have limited the global rotation of the universe, but did not eliminate it completely. If it turns out that the Universe rotates at a certain speed, ideally balancing the requirements of the density of matter and the cosmological constant, then it will be quite possible to go back in time and arrive at the starting point not only in space, but also in time. Deep surveys of large areas of the sky, like the upcoming experiments of WFIRST and LSST, can detect such a rotation, if it exists.


The concept of NASA's WFIRST satellite, which is supposed to go into space in 2024 and give us the most accurate measurements of dark energy, as well as discover other incredible space discoveries

Science allows for more exotic possibilities - teleportation of physical objects, instantaneous movement between different points (wormholes) or communication faster than light - but such possibilities require much more serious and complex workarounds than one simple experiment that produces unexpected but acceptable results. However, we must look for such opportunities. Science is not a story with an ultimate goal, where we will learn everything that is possible, and then we will stop. This is an ongoing detective story where every discovery, every milestone and every experiment inevitably leads to deeper questions along the way. Wherever this road takes us, it is important to imagine these possibilities and what is necessary for their realization - at every step of the journey.

Ethan Siegel - astrophysicist, popularizer of science, blog Starts With A Bang! He wrote the books Beyond The Galaxy , and Treknologiya: Star Trek Science [ Treknology ].

FAQ: if the universe is expanding, why aren't we expanding ; why the age of the universe does not coincide with the radius of the observed part of it .