AAWSAP DIRD, Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (Spacetime Metric) Engineering, March 2010

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REFRACTIVE INDEX EFFECTS
When considering metric-engineered
spacetime associated with exotic
propulsion, a number of corollary side
effects associated with refractive index
changes of the vacuum structure
emerge as possibilities. Expected effects
would mimic known refractive index
effects in general and can therefore be
determined from known phenomena.
Indistinct boundary definition associated
with "waviness" as observed with heat
waves off a desert floor is one example.
As another, a light beam may bend (as
in the GR example of the bending of
starlight as it grazes the sun; see Figure \
2) or even terminate in mid-space. Such
an observation would exhibit features
that under ordinary circumstances
would be associated with a high­
refractive index optical fiber in normal
space (well-defined boundaries, light
trapped within, bending or termination
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in mid-space). Additional observations
might include apparent changes in size
Figure 2. Light-Bending in a Spacetime-Altered
or shape (changes in lensing
Region
magnification parameters). Yet another
possibility is the sudden "cloaking" or
"blinking out," which would at least be consistent with strong gravitational lensing
effects that bend a background view around a craft, though other technical options
involving, for example, the use of metamaterials, exist as well.
EFFECTIVE MASS IN SPACETIME-ALTERED REGIONS
As noted in the preceding sections, spacetime alteration of energy and light-speed
measures leads to an associated alteration in the effective mass of an object in a
spacetime-altered region as viewed from an external (unaltered) region. Of special
interest is the case in which the effective mass is decreased by application of spacetime
metric engineering principles as might be expected in the case of metric engineering for
spaceflight applications (reference last column in Table 1). Effective reduction of inertial
mass as viewed in our frame of reference would appear to mitigate against untoward
effects on craft occupants associated with abrupt changes in movement. (The physical
principles involved can also be understood in terms of associated coordinate
transformation properties as discussed above.) In any case, changes in effective mass
associated with engineering of the spacetime metric in a craft's environs can lead to
properties advantageous for spaceflight applications.
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