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General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

arXiv:1903.03423 (gr-qc)
[Submitted on 28 Feb 2019]

Title:The Halo Drive: Fuel-Free Relativistic Propulsion of Large
Masses via Recycled Boomerang Photons

Authors:David Kipping
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    Abstract: Gravitational slingshots around a neutron star in a
    compact binary have been proposed as a means of accelerating
    large masses to potentially relativistic speeds. Such a slingshot
    is attractive since fuel is not expended for the acceleration,
    however it does entail a spacecraft diving into close proximity
    of the binary, which could be hazardous. It is proposed here that
    such a slingshot can be performed remotely using a beam of light
    which follows a boomerang null geodesic. Using a moving black
    hole as a gravitational mirror, kinetic energy from the black
    hole is transferred to the beam of light as a blueshift and upon
    return the recycled photons not only accelerate, but also add
    energy to, the spacecraft. It is shown here that this gained
    energy can be later expended to reach a terminal velocity of
    approximately 133% the velocity of the black hole. A civilization
    could exploit black holes as galactic way points but would be
    difficult to detect remotely, except for an elevated binary
    merger rate and excess binary eccentricity.

Comments: Accepted for publication. 14 pages, 5 figures
Subjects: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); High
          Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
Cite as:  arXiv:1903.03423 [gr-qc]
          (or arXiv:1903.03423v1 [gr-qc] for this version)
          https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1903.03423
          Focus to learn more
          arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

Submission history

From: David Kipping [view email]
[v1] Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:23:23 UTC (2,117 KB)
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