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Mathematicians Design Invisible Tunnel

Journal written by psikys (1098367) and posted by kdawson on Sun May 06, 2007 05:05 PM
from the worms-need-light-too dept.
Math Sci-Fi Science
New calculations show how to make an electromagnetic "wormhole" — a tube that is invisible from the sides but allows light to shine down the center. The practical applications are a ways off, as even the design of a spherical invisibility cloak has not advanced beyond working (in theory) for a single wavelength of visible light.
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[+] A Step Towards an Invisibility Cloak 172 comments
An anonymous reader alerts us to work out of Purdue University in Indiana, where researchers have produced a design for a method of cloaking objects of any shape and size at a single wavelength of visible light. The math for such an invisibility effect was worked out last year at Duke and in the UK, but the new work, to be published in Nature Photonics this month, is the first practical design. The lead researcher, Vladimir Shalaev, notes that even though the current design works only at a single wavelength, and so would not convey true invisibility, it could still be useful — against, for example, night-vision goggles or laser target designators. Shalaev calls the technical challenge of producing an all-wavelengths cloak "doable in principle."
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  • invisible from all sides (Score:5, Funny)

    by seven of five (578993) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:08PM (#19013673) Homepage
    anyway, it seems to work on the website.

  • But what is it good for? (Score:5, Funny)

    by WrongSizeGlass (838941) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:09PM (#19013677) Homepage
    Not to be a party pooper, but is there really any application for this tunnel? You can't see it, you can't see out of it, and you need to build it so it can only go to places you can already go.

    In NJ we already have tunnels that seem to do nothing. We call them the Holland Tunnel & Lincoln Tunnel.

    • Re:But what is it good for? (Score:4, Funny)

      by someone1234 (830754) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:14PM (#19013715)
      Is it hidden from Google Maps?

    • Re:But what is it good for? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:19PM (#19013771)
      In NJ we already have tunnels that seem to do nothing. We call them the Holland Tunnel & Lincoln Tunnel.

      Q : Why are New Yorkers so depressed?
      A : Because the light at the end of the tunnel is New Jersey!

      • And in other news.. (Score:5, Funny)

        by mrbluze (1034940) on Sunday May 06 2007, @06:55PM (#19014687) Journal
        Scientists develop invisible, weightless clothing that is so thin you can't feel it. One of their first customers has been the King of England, but orders have also been placed by the President and hundreds of middle aged men hoping to impress their wives this Mother's Day.
    • Could make for a very effective nail if they found a way to sound proof things. People can't see in or out of it, they wouldn't even know it was there except they could not enter/exit it. Would be absolutely perfect for prisons and such.

    • Re:But what is it good for? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by totoanihilation (782326) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:24PM (#19013829)
      The one application that struck me is the holographic implications. If you can get light to move to a precise spot in mid-air through an invisible tunnel, you can make objects appear anywhere. No smoke or mirrors required.

      • Re:But what is it good for? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by suv4x4 (956391) on Sunday May 06 2007, @11:24PM (#19016717)
        The one application that struck me is the holographic implications. If you can get light to move to a precise spot in mid-air through an invisible tunnel, you can make objects appear anywhere. No smoke or mirrors required.

        A laser beam is already invisible since it travels in a given direction. There's no light-saber beam line, like in the movies (as you probably know).

        The problem with holograms is, how do you scatter that beam at any given point (thus the smoke or vapour or whatever), so it becomes a visible light point. And thus, thus technology doesn't help holograms at all.

        Plus to create a workable resolution images (say 800 voxels = 800^3) that's 512 million tunnels, recreated/readjusted from 20 to 60 times a second. Or one really fast moving tunnel covering around 10 billion locations per second.

        Since the solution involves metal rings building the tunnel.. how the heck do you imagine this in a hologram in midair ;)?

    • Not to be a party pooper, but is there really any application for this tunnel? You can't see it, you can't see out of it, and you need to build it so it can only go to places you can already go

      That should be obvious: it will have great implications for the Internet, which - as we all know - is a series of tubes. The tunnel carries light, so it can work like a fibre connection, and we can identify the endpoints.

      :-)

    • Re:But what is it good for? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Strilanc (1077197) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:59PM (#19014151)
      It's essentially an invisible wire. Just think of the possibilities! Invisible tripwire, an INVISIBLE clutter of wires behind your desk, and freaky rope bondage! ... maybe we should reconsider building this.
      • "Damn, kicked the network cable out again. Aw, shit, they've already got that invisible crap here? Now I'm doomed."
    • How about a recon vehicle?
      Put the tube standing on end around the vehicle. Use fiber optics, small cameras, or other sensors in a periscope so they can see outside the tube. There would also be the possibility of stacking smaller and smaller tubes to form a dome over an object.
    • I have no idea what an invisibility cloak could be good for.

  • spelling? (Score:5, Funny)

    by skeldoy (831110) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:15PM (#19013723) Homepage
    "advenced"? "are a ways of"? That futuristic language must be from the other side of the wormhole!

  • This thread is useless without pictures (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:22PM (#19013801)
    If anyone is interested, I found a photo:

  • military (Score:4, Interesting)

    by crAckZ (1098479) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:23PM (#19013809)
    this is a good application for the army. a series of tunnels and your moving trucks and cargo without the enemy seeing them. all they would know is that you have the tunnels but would'nt know exactly what your moving.
    • Yeah, or make a giant dough-roller out of it and roll it over the country!

    • Re:military (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ByteSlicer (735276) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:49PM (#19014055)
      Or they could build their tunnels out of metal-shielded concrete, and nobody would see what they are moving either (for a fraction of the price, probably).

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by cathector (972646)
      why is this modded 4/interesting ?
      you don't even have to read the article. right there in the summary it says "a tube that is invisible from the sides but allows light to shine down the center." (not that the article actually says much more than the summary)

      so while i'm sure the military will have an application for this, as they seem to have applications for anything which my money can be spent on, the only things which can be moved thru the tunnel are photons.

  • Designed?!? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sakusha (441986) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:23PM (#19013821)
    I don't quite see how anyone can claim they designed such a thing. It is sort of like saying Klein designed a bottle that holds everything on the outside on the inside. Of course a Klein Bottle is impossible to construct, sure it's an interesting mathematical idea but it's not anything you can make in reality, so it's senseless to say it's been designed. Let's just say it's been imagined.
    • The article is clearly nonsense. It doesn't explain anything, merely speculates idly about how the tunnel that doesn't exist should work, throws in a few buzzwords, and some general information, and calls it a day. Nothing to see here, just more pageviews for Scientific American.
      • Yeah right. Show me how the neck of these Klein Bottles pass through the side wall without intersecting it. That's the unique property of a Klein Bottle.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by sakusha (441986)
        Did you people all flunk math? Those are MODELS of a Klein Bottle, not a REAL Klein bottle. The Klein Bottle is a construct that cannot exist in normal 3D space.
        Now I suppose you're going to tell me that a drawing of a cube on a piece of paper is a real 3D cube?

  • Beating Chuck Norris (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tribbin (565963) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:31PM (#19013903) Homepage
    So now you can *KLANG* Chuck Norris on the head with a tube, and he won't see it coming?

    I don't think one would have much time to enjoy the moment though, 'cause he will round-house-kick the tube into your navel.

  • Fake! (Score:4, Funny)

    by markild (862998) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:34PM (#19013933)
    Bah.. I just checked out ThinkGeek, and [b]still[/b] no 1:12 working model of a Stargate..

    I mean, what's the use of this technology if they're not putting it to good use :P

  • it's a series of tubes (Score:3, Funny)

    by kirils (1050022) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:40PM (#19013995) Homepage
    hell, yeah. now we'll be able to download pr0n without others seeing.

  • Never late for work ! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Joebert (946227) on Sunday May 06 2007, @05:49PM (#19014067) Homepage
    Joebert ! you're late !
    No I'm not sir, I got an early start cleaning up inside the tube.
  • The rapists in Second Life are working on an Invisible ePenis to counter this development.

  • Math != reality (Score:5, Funny)

    by ErikZ (55491) * on Sunday May 06 2007, @06:26PM (#19014419)
    Math guy: "Look! We've shown how to make wormholes, with math!"

    Me: "You forgot to carry the 1."

    Math guy: "Damn!"
  • ...asleep.

    Then waking up and inventing what they saw in friction.

    Oh wait, isn't this how the cell phone came about? (re: star trek communicators)

    Ok, now everyone start watching movies like fifth element and star wars and such.... before bed..

    Maybe we can finally get our flying cars...

  • Obl. (Score:5, Funny)

    by PineGreen (446635) on Sunday May 06 2007, @06:41PM (#19014561) Homepage
    That's the dumbest fucking idea I've heard since I've been at Microsoft.
  • A biologist, a physicist, and a mathematician are sitting in an outdoor cafe. They watch two people go into a building across the street. Shortly thereafter, three people come out.

    "Hmm," says the biologist. "It looks like they reproduced."

    "Nah," says the physicist. "There was obviously error in our initial measurement."

    The mathematician looks up from his coffee. "Who cares? If another person goes in, it'll be empty."
  • ...

    MEEP MEEP
  • One application I can think of: Video privacy. Everyone's most likely seen the advertisements for the "Sonic Ear" or similar doodad. "Watch TV without disturbing your partner's sleep!" The ads usually claim. However, whenever I heard this line, I usually replied mentally: "What about the flashing/flickering light from the television?" Well, it seems to me that this would answer that question. Then again, I've had a long day at work and my brain is a tad on the soft side right now...

  • Problem (Score:3, Funny)

    by PPH (736903) on Sunday May 06 2007, @09:40PM (#19016017)
    If its invisible from the sides, how do we keep backhoe operators from digging it up?

  • Link to paper (Score:5, Informative)

    by Plutonite (999141) on Sunday May 06 2007, @09:55PM (#19016097)
    Because I love you all:

    http://arxiv.org/abs/math-ph/0703059 [arxiv.org]

    • What they are proposing isnt really a wormhole anyway. I think they used the term just to get attention.

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