LCARS animation by Major Howard ‘Adge’ Cutler, http://lcars.org.uk
In the Star Trek universe, subspace is the imaginary realm that allows starships to break the light-speed barrier, enabling faster-than-light travel and instant communication. It invites speculation about how real-world physics deals with dimensions, quantum phenomena, and the very fabric of reality.
1D Reality in a 4D Universe
The idea of a one-dimensional reality existing within our four-dimensional universe fascinates physicists. While hypothetical, scenarios like cosmic strings and branes in string theory are considered, albeit facing significant physical and practical challenges.
Mathematical Possibilities of 1D Structures
Mathematically, embedding lower-dimensional structures within higher-dimensional spaces is feasible. Examples include cosmic strings and 1D branes, which interact with the full spacetime continuum rather than existing independently.
Challenges of Sustaining a 1D Reality
Creating a viable 1D reality encounters issues like limited gravitational complexity and topological constraints. Inherently connected to higher dimensions, a standalone 1D universe is difficult to envisage.
Photons: Bridging Classical and Quantum Realms
Photons defy simple classification, existing as both classical points in spacetime and quantum field excitations. Their duality illustrates the complex boundary between classical physics and quantum mechanics.
Tunneling: Quantum Leap Beyond Dimensions
According to academic consensus, photon quantum tunneling represents probabilistic path exploration, not dimensional shifts. This quantum mechanic aspect shows particles interacting through the quantum vacuum, highlighting a non-local nature.
Contrarian: How? All quantum physicists are saying is that there are probability equations that can predict very well the behavior of photons.
Quantum Vacuum and Higher Dimensions
Consensus: The quantum vacuum is typically seen as a four-dimensional entity, though speculative theories propose higher dimensions to link quantum mechanics with gravity, yet these ideas remain unconfirmed.
Contrarian: Now, let’s be clear: the unconfirmed ideas are both the “typically seen four-dimensional entity” as well as higher or lower dimensions.
“Fallback Dimensions”
Consensus: Phenomena such as entanglement and tunneling result from quantum field mechanics rather than hidden dimensions. Photons behave according to quantum field theory’s probabilistic nature, challenging classical constraints.
Contrarian: There is zero proof that “hidden dimensions” are not involved. If these “hidden dimensions” only serve as a metaphor to understand what goes on in entanglement and tunneling experiments, so be it.
Science is not primarily focused on comprehending the underlying mechanics of the universe; rather, its goal is to make predictions based on observations and to leverage these predictions.
Now, wouldn’t it be nice if one could devise an experiment to show that hidden dimensions are at play in quantum tunneling and entanglement experiments?
Imagination Meets Physics
Star Trek’s subspace is hypothetical; it mirrors our longing to transcend spatial limits. The true complexity of the universe lies in quantum fields, says the consensus, proving physics to be as inspiring as a doorknob.
In 1994, Professor Dr. Günter Nimtz and his colleague, Horst Aichmann, conducted groundbreaking experiments at Hewlett-Packard that involved transmitting information faster than light. They successfully transported a signal over a very short distance at a speed 4.7 times that of light, thanks to a phenomenon called quantum tunneling. This remarkable result has ignited heated discussions among scientists, yet it remains reproducible.
FASTER-THAN-LIGHT?
As improbable as it sounds, I was present in 1999 when Professor Dr. Nimtz transmitted an AM-modulated microwave signal of Mozart’s 40th symphony through a Bose double prism at 4.7 times the speed of light.
Nimtz’s quantum tunneling experiment, 1999
As the webmaster of a Sci-Fi-themed news website called the “Museum of the Future,” I was constantly on the lookout for intriguing topics. One day, I stumbled upon an article about Dr. Nimtz and the enigmatic processes of superluminal quantum tunneling. Intrigued, I reached out to him, and he graciously agreed to demonstrate his experiment.
“Having met Prof. Dr. Nimtz for the first time I was shown his new tunneling experiment. As a lay person I’m not able to launch immediately into an in-depth scientific interpretation of his experiment but I will dutifully try to comprehend what I saw today, and try and share my insights and questions and make the data available as they become known.”
“I present here for the first time world-exclusive pictures of Prof. Nimtz’s new experiment setup.”
In this experiment, the quantum-tunneled signal was measured against a signal traveling through ordinary laboratory space. To demonstrate this, Dr. Nimtz employed an oscilloscope and a detector diode to accurately gauge the tunneling time.
Mozart at 4.7 Times the Speed of Light
In anticipation of potential questions in the future, I prepared a short video six years ago that includes the last surviving recording of the superluminal Mozart transmission.
Technical Questions
In August 2023, I corresponded with Horst Aichmann, the engineer behind the quantum tunneling experiment and a co-author with Professor Nimtz on various related papers. I inquired about the modulation and detection of the signal timing. He provided the following information:
“During our timing measurements, I created a pulse modulator equipped with specialized filtering, enabling a repetition rate of 13 MHz and a rise time of approximately 500 picoseconds. The AM signal provides an easily detectable and measurable trace, thanks to a fast detector diode coupled with a sufficiently rapid oscilloscope.”
If we indeed accept the existence of superluminal effects originating from quantum tunneling, we can conclude that this phenomenon allows a particle to enter a strictly localized tachyonic state, for a very short period of time.
Superluminal tunneling has been successfully performed hundreds of times in laboratories worldwide, demonstrating its applicability in everyday technology. For instance, the fingerprint reader on your smartphone utilizes quantum tunneling. You may not think about it, but it simply works!
When quantum tunneling occurs with a red laser pointer (operating at a frequency of several hundred terahertz), the evanescent tachyonic field only extends a few picometers because of the high frequency.
During Nimtz’s experiments, he utilized a frequency of 8.7 GHz, which coincidentally matched the wavelength of Helium-3 emissions. This particular frequency enabled his evanescent field to be detectable over several centimeters between prisms. (It just happened that the microwave emitter available in the university lab operated at this frequency.)
Interestingly, it appears that the lower the frequency used, the more extensive the evanescent field extends from the barrier.
Recently, this groundbreaking experiment was replicated by Peter Elsen and Simon Tebeck, who presented their findings at “Jugend forscht,” Germany’s prestigious student physics competition, in 2019. Their work earned them first prize from Rheinland-Pfalz as well as the Heraeus Prize for Germany.
Left: Former chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, right: “Jugend Forscht” winner Peter Elsen (17)
What is a brane? (Topology and String Theory in a nutshell)
The rule that nothing can move faster than light has a little-known exception: evanescent waves. Various explanations have been tried to account for this phenomenon.
My explanation is simple: a photon is the smallest possible unit of topology, geometry, dimension, information, energy, or anything. Topologically, a photon is a zero-dimensional point in space; it is a quantum of zero (0) dimension.
In the mesmerizing ballet of quantum tunneling, this photon, this pure potential, traverses a barrier. In doing so, it transforms; as a point transitions from one locality to another, it becomes a line—a string. It is this very string, that delicate filament, which finds its place in the grand narrative of string theory. Suddenly, we have transcended from the ethereal realm of the zero-dimensional to the tangible reality of a one-dimensional object.
In the lexicon of theoretical physics, we might also refer to this one-dimensional string as a “brane,” existing within a confined, one-dimensional space devoid of the tapestry of time.
What is a brane?
In the realms of string and quantum theory, a 1-brane are one-dimensional “objects or waves” that traverse space-time—not through classical laws, but governed by the principles of quantum physics. When we consider one-dimensional space, we omit the fourth dimension, which is time.
In this context, photons or strings can move superluminally. This isn’t merely an abstract mathematical idea; it reflects our reality.
Evanescent waves result from photons re-entering the four-dimensional non-quantum realm, allowing us to witness the faster-than-light movement of a photon traversing a barrier.
It’s space, Jim, but not as we know it
Albert Einstein explained his theory of special relativity using geometry by the mathematician Hermann Minkowski, who unified space and time into a four-dimensional spacetime continuum.
For his theory of general relativity, Einstein employed Riemannian geometry—a branch that includes the concept of curved space—to describe how mass and energy distort spacetime.
This “topology,” the curved space model, has held an endless fascination for us since early times.
A human meditating on the Riemann Sphere
A sphere exists in 3 and 4 dimensions. In zero- and one-dimensional realms, the sphere (and time) do not exist, because these dimensions lack the necessary structure to define a “surface” or “volume,” let alone “time.”
Is it “time” to move beyond the Riemann sphere in our understanding of the cosmos?
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