Pitch and Bias
One proposed method of achieving a diametric drive, or possibly a disjunction drive, which was studied in the BPP was called the pitch drive. This has been described as involving a hypothetical disjoint field which would eliminate the need for the field to be generated on the spacecraft itself.
One specific proposal for such a pitch drive was called the bias drive. According to this proposal, if it were possible to locally alter the value of the gravitational constant G in front of and behind the craft, one could create a bias drive. While the gravitational constant is a fundamental physical constant in general relativity, the Brans-Dicke theory of gravitation does in a sense allow for a locally varying gravitational constant, so the notion of a locally varying gravitational constant has been seriously discussed in mainstream physics. It has been claimed that one problem with the concept of a bias drive was that it might create a singularity in the field's gradient located inside the vehicle.
The bias drive and pitch drive is expressed qualitatively in mathematics as :
and
respectively.
where :
- is the Gaussian distribution over dimensionless
- is the magnitude of hypothetical pitch drive effect
- is the magnitude of hypothetical bias drive effect
Read more about this topic: Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program
Famous quotes containing the words pitch and, pitch and/or bias:
“Though I have locked my gate on them
I pity all the young,
I know what devil’s trade they learn
From those they live among,
Their drink, their pitch and toss by day,
Their robbery by night....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
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—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“The solar system has no anxiety about its reputation, and the credit of truth and honesty is as safe; nor have I any fear that a skeptical bias can be given by leaning hard on the sides of fate, of practical power, or of trade, which the doctrine of Faith cannot down-weigh.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)