DOW-UAP-D131, AAWSAP DIRD, The Role of Superconductors in Gravity Research, March 2010

This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD is a historical survey of efforts to determine whether superconductors might play a role in producing, detecting, or modifying gravity-related effects in a laboratory setting. It reviews the main theoretical and experimental lines of work in that area and attempts to connect superconducting materials with gravitational-wave or propulsion-related concepts. Because the topic is highly contested within the scientific literature, the report spends substantial attention on experiments of disputed value and on controversial theories, especially claims that rotating or energized superconductors might generate anomalous gravitational effects. Overall, the document treats the subject as an exploratory research area with potentially major implications if any real effect were verified, while also making clear that the evidentiary base remained weak, that prominent claims had not been convincingly replicated, and that both the underlying theory and the experimental record remained deeply disputed.

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Defense
Intelligence
Reference
Document
Acquisition Threat Support
23 March 2010
!COD: 1 December 2010
DIA-08-1003-013
The Role of Superconductors
in Gravity Research
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The Role of Superconductors in Gravity Research
Prepared by:
Acquisition Support Division (DW0-3)
Defense Warning Office
Directorate for Analysis
Defense Intelligence Agency
Author:
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This product is one in a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2009
under the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Warning Office's Advanced Aerospace
Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. Comments or questions pertaining to
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this document should be addressed to !AAP Person 1 AAWSA Program
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Contents
Introduction ...........................................................................................................iii
Gravity Waves ........................................................................................................ 1
Gravitoelectromagnetism ....................................................................................... 1
Historical Timeline ................................................................................................. 3
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 11
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The Role of Superconductors in Gravity Research
Introduction
This paper is a historical survey of the role superconductors have played in the
recent search for laboratory-scale manipulation of gravity. The invention of
superconductors and, in particular, the recent development of high­
temperature ceramic superconductors have provided the impetus for pursuing
a connection between gravity, electromagnetism, and, in particular,
magnetism and matter in the solid state. The discovery of yttrium-barium­
copper oxide (YBCO) YBa2Cu301 ceramics able to superconduct at liquid
nitrogen temperatures allowed many laboratories around the world to
fabricate these superconductors in various experimentally useful sizes. True
Meissner repulsion was obtained by cooling them using relatively cheap liquid
nitrogen rather than liquid helium. For the theoretician, the possibility of
considering the superconductor being a macroscopic quantum object as a
reality rather than a fantasy suggested several avenues for developing
theories connecting gravity and gravity-like forces to engineerable matter. For
the experimentalist, extrapolations from these theories suggested there might
actually be gravitational disturbances in the laboratory that would be
amenable to measurement, assuming all necessary precautions were taken to
exclude artifact.
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Gravity Waves
A distinction should be made between gravitational waves, the gravitational "force,"
and anomalous forces. Currently, work on gravitational waves is divided into two more
or less distinct realms: low frequency (less than a few hundred Hz) and high frequency
~
(greater than several tens of kHz). The existence of gravitational waves of any
frequency is a natural outcome of Einstein's theory of general relativity (GR). The
search for low-frequency gravitational waves currently utilizes large, heavy, and long
metal bars as detectors together with interferometers, strain gauges, and
accelerometers in an attempt to detect quadrupolar gravitational waves from
cosmological sources, such as binary stars. The general idea is that if a large mass of
precisely known dimensions is effectively isolated from the surrounding environment
(such as Earth) by means of special vibration and other isolators, the masses will
interact with the small-amplitude gravity waves emitted by large masses in the cosmos
and their lengths will change, but by extremely small amounts. UGO, LISA, VIRGO,
DECIGO (Japan), and CEGO {China) are some of the acronyms given to these
experiments. They are primarily attempts to verify the existence of these waves to
further solidify the understanding that GR gives us about the nature of space and
matter. Several researchers consider that high-frequency gravitational waves (HFGW)
will be produced in the laboratory under certain conditions in the near future (Reference
1). These researchers have a considerably more ambitious view of the future than the
low-frequency gravitational wave researchers, including the use of HFGW for
communications, telescopy, microscopy, and possibly propulsion. Some consider that
the production and detection of these waves will be mediated, or at least assisted, by
superconductors (References 2, 3). Current research on the link between HFGW and the
manipulation of gravity for propulsion is at present only theoretical. If gravitational
waves can interact with and be converted into forces in laboratory-scale matter, it is
hoped that those forces would be manifest not as gravitational forces per se, as these
gravitational forces would be exceedingly small and difficult to unequivocally detect in
the laboratory, but rather as electromagnetic or ponderable nongravitational forces,
thus making them more amenable to detection by electromagnetic means.
Gravitoelectromagnetism
The gravitational "force" arises from the tendency of one body to accelerate toward
another. (Force is in quotation marks here merely for simplicity and ease of use when
comparing gravity with other forces, as many other gravity-like forces can be easily
confused in the laboratory with actual gravitational attraction.) The physical explanation
for gravitational attraction has been elusive at best. Several notable attempts at novel
explanations have recently been published. Puthoff (Reference 4) developed an idea
originally put forward by Sakharov (Reference 5) that posits gravity as a Casimir-like
attraction arising within the universal sea of fluctuating electromagnetic interactions,
sometimes called zero-point fluctuations. Alzofon (Reference 6) presented an
engineering approach to interacting with gravity by means of altering nuclear entropy
using a technique associated with electron paramagnetic resonance called dynamic
nuclear orientation-that is, enhanced polarization of the magnetic moments of
nucleons by interaction with pulsed polarized electron spins. Hughes (Reference 7)
analyzed the Kopernicky Conjecture, which holds that gravity is nothing other than the
slight difference between forces of coulomb attraction and repulsion. However, none of
these researchers appealed to the special form of matter constituting superconductors.
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The "attraction" of modifying gravity-whether your own, your spacecraft's, or that of a
nearby large mass-for propulsive purposes lies in two general categories of effect:
• The modifying, neutralizing, or negating of the gravitational attraction of a nearby
body, typically Earth.
• The provision of propulsive force or impulse to a spacecraft based on manipulation
of the same underlying physical phenomenon that forms the basis of gravity.
The theoretical and experimental attempts outlined in this paper deal with both these
possibilities.
In experiments designed to produce a gravity-like force or to interact directly with a
local gravity field, the researcher has to be looking for extremely small deviations from
a null result. Observations to date demonstrate that interactions between gravity and
electromagnetic fields, given the field densities and strengths available to even the
most well-equipped laboratory, are many orders of magnitude smaller than those
required to begin to see such forces. Braginski et al. (Reference 8) showed that
ordinary matter cannot be used to generate measurable gravitational fields in the
laboratory. The standard edict against such things as gravity shields can be summed up
by noting the absence of negative gravitational mass, at least in this sector of the
universe, resulting in the relative "gravitational permittivity/permeability" being unity in
normal matter. Therefore, demonstrating that a new force, whether gravitational or
not, has been discovered in the laboratory will require an intense effort to provide
proof. This implies being able to distinguish between true gravity-like forces and gravity
interactions and a host of prosaic effects masquerading as these forces. A list of
potential artifacts attendant on such experiments can be found in Reference 9.
General relativity introduces a metric tensor theory of gravity, and while it does not
explain the fundamental physical basis of the gravitational attraction between two
bodies, it does allow the prediction of a large range of interactions between bodies.
Similarly, Maxwell's vector equations do not explain the fundamental basis for
electromagnetic interactions but do allow us to predict the outcomes of such
interactions. It is possible to reformulate the tensor format of GR into a simple vector
format that is valid only for a subset of GR conditions, namely in the weak field
approximation and for nonrelativistic velocities. Using perturbation theory, for example,
to compute the equations of motion in the simplified GR equations results in terms that
have direct analogs in Maxwell equations where electrical current flow is replaced by
mass flow, for example. Forward (Reference 10, 11) was among the first to investigate
this analog. One term is analogous to the Biot-Savart-like magnetic field and is
generally referred to as the "gravitomagnetic field" (and also sometimes as
"gravitational frame dragging" or the "Lense-Thirring Effect") and has the dimensions of
s-1
.
Another term is analogous to the electrostatic coulomb field and is referred to as
the "gravitoelectric field." Essentially, the gravitomagnetic field produces a force
between currents of flowing matter, while the gravitoelectric field produces a force
between masses themselves (the Newtonian gravitational field). Sometimes the term
"gravitoelectromagnetic field" is used to refer to both the gravitoelectric and
gravitomagnetic fields.
Gravity is thus composed of a (Newtonian) velocity-independent field and a
(gravitomagnetic) velocity-dependent field analogous to the electric and magnetic fields
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in electromagnetic theory. The simplified GR/Maxwell equations show that there is also
a Faraday-like law of induction that can generate Newtonian gravitational fields from
time-varying gravitomagnetic fields.
Modern attempts to confirm the existence of the gravitomagnetic field include highly
accurate laser ranging of the Earth-Moon distance (Reference 12), as well as the launch
of the Gravity Probe B satellite (Reference 13).
Historical Timeline
In order to aid future researchers, it is instructive to follow the general historical
development of the modern search for a link between electromagnetism, matter, and
gravity. This outline will include both theoretical and experimental aspects, expanding
and emphasizing experimental issues where appropriate. Because of space limitations,
not all of the many contributions to the field can be highlighted. The reader is
encouraged to consult the source references cited in this paper to obtain a fuller
appreciation of the amount of effort that has been expended in this area of physics.
Podkletnov and Nieminen (Reference 15) published what is considered the first possible
evidence for an experimental link between high-temperature liquid nitrogen (LN2)
superconductor effects and gravity, allegedly in the form of a gravity shield. Many
scientists since then have cast considerable doubt on their findings. Notwithstanding
these severe criticisms, since the publication of this paper, many other researchers
have considered that the experimental search for gravity-related forces could be taken
out of the realm of pure speculation and onto the laboratory bench. Podkletnov's
apparent experimental success has in turn prompted some theoreticians to consider
fresh approaches to investigating superconductors as a special form of condensed
matter capable of modifying and/or producing such forces.
It would be a breakthrough of the first order to discover a repeatable, laboratory-scale,
heretofore hidden connection between gravity, special forms of matter that can be
created in the laboratory, and electromagnetism that would possibly unlock the door to
new transportation systems, new energy sources, and a host of other earthly benefits,
not to mention professional accolades and untold wealth for the technology developers.
However, the rush to be the first to successfully find a repeatable and verifiable link
between superconductors and gravity has produced many casualties. Theoreticians
have made assumptions to force their theories to explain the putative experimental
results. Most experiments have been literally thrown together with little thought paid to
the myriad traps and pitfalls that litter the minefield of experimental physics in this
uncharted territory. This is primarily due to the expectation that the sought-after forces
will be extremely tiny and hard to distinguish from prosaic influences.
The most prominent, albeit controversial theoretical work on creating laboratory­
detectable gravitomagnetic fields via high-temperature superconductors was initiated
by Li and Torr (Reference 16-18). Their work expanded on earlier work by DeWitt
(Reference 19) and Ross (Reference 20), who considered modifications to the London
equations, which relate supercurrent (that is, Cooper pair) flow to electric and magnetic
fields in and around a superconductor, to include gravitomagnetic fields. Dewitt showed
that a time-varying gravitomagnetic field must arise owing to the presence of magnetic
flux quantization in superconductors. Dewitt's work was expanded on by Ross, who
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produced a modified set of London equations. These papers laid the theoretical
foundations for the later work of Li, Torr, and Tajmar, for example.
In the late 1980s while at the University of Alabama, Douglas Torr was examining
neglected areas of physics, including aether theories and experiments, as well as
gravitational wave antennas, the subject of a paper awarded the Gravity Research
Foundation's "First Award" in 1989. In 1991, Torr and Ning Li published a paper on the
effects of a gravitomagnetic field on superconducting