Re: starship-design: A few thoughts on drag & exoitc stuff(was 'stilldoing stardrives')

["N. Lindberg" <nlindber@u.washington.edu>]

  I read an abstract recently of an experimental setup to measure axion
decay in a strong magnetic field. Preliminary results indicate that
_something_ is going on.  Also there was some kind of result at the Gran
Sasso facility in Italy having to do with dark matter (WIMPs as I recall).
Look it up if you're interested.  Another thing that I forgot to mention,
if axions are a big part of DM, then they would tend to sink to the center
of the sun locally.  Their presence could help to explain the 'solar
neutrino problem' that so vexes the standard model.
	Nels


On Wed, 17 Feb 1999, AJ & AJ Crowl wrote:

> Hi Group,
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: N. Lindberg <nlindber@u.washington.edu>
> To: L. Clayton Parker <lparker@cacaphony.net>
> Cc: <KellySt@aol.com>; <jthunderbird@nternet.com>;
> <starship-design@lists.uoregon.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 1999 3:55 AM
> Subject: starship-design: A few thoughts on drag & exoitc stuff(was 'still
> doing stardrives')
> 
> 
> > One of the candidates for the 'dark matter' that accounts for 90%
> >of our universe and our galaxy is a low-rest mass particle called the
> >axion.  This is one of those wierd things that are predicted by SUSY and
> >superstring theories.  It has the interesting property that it decays into
> >photons in the presence of a strong magnetic field.  Of course, if they
> >exist in large quantity in interstellar space, the magnetic field from any
> >Bussard scoop would cause their decay.  At low speeds (relative to the
> >galactic DM halo) the microwaves produced wouldn't be a big deal, but at
> >high speed they could produce enourmous effects.  I have no idea whether
> >this would produce drag, thrust, or a force normal to the path.
> > Best Regards,
> > Nels Lindberg
> >
> Interesting thought. Reminds me of Haisch and co's work on inertia as the
> ZPF's reaction to an accelerating charge. Perhaps Dark Matter will turn out
> to be neutralinos instead, since some researchers think they've actually
> found a few. I think if you're moving fast enough to worry about axion decay
> you'll be fending off a whole lot more radiation from interstellar gas
> interacting with your scoop fields - synchrotron radiation would get pretty
> bad ar close to c.
> 
> Adam
> 
> 
>