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Computer Algebra and General Relativity for Future
                   Spaceflight Investigations
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Claudio Maccone

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Date:  July 18th (Thursday)\\
Time:  08:30-08:55\\

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Abstract
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Supporters of SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) have long been claiming that
SETI, rather than interstellar flight, is the only feasible way to achieve contact among alien
civilizations. They claim that, even if relativistic speeds for spaceships will one day be achieved,
the times involved for interstellar flight are too long to be humanly bearable for the travellers
aboard the spaceship. 

This pro-SETI claim is probably correct as long as one assumes that the only conceivable form of
relativistic interstallar flight is the one arising from the special theory of relativity. In fact, the
basic assumption of the special theory of relativity is that in no case the speed of light can be
exceeded. Surprisingly enough, however, recent advances in the general theory of relativity seem
to show that Faster-Than-Light (FTL) travel is possible within the framework of the general
theory of relativity. The explanation to this apparent contrast between special and general
relativoty lies in the fact that general relativity makes use of non-linear differential equations and
non-Euclidean spacetime geometry. This larger mathematical armoury makes room for a whole
new class of unexpected relativistic phoenomena to come to light. One such "oddity" of general
relativity is the Theory of Worhmoles, that could be more politely called Tunnels into SpaceTime.
A neat, mildly-mathematical account of this Theory was given to JBIS readers by Robert Forward
(JBIS, Vol. 49 (1989), pages 533-542), and it centers particularly around a paper published in 1987
by Michael S. Morris and Kip S. Thorne, of Caltech. The latter's equations predict that spaceflight
between two distant targets, such as between two stars, may be possible in a time of hours if a
"tunnel", dug into space-time, exists between the two stars. However, Morris and Thorne also
showed that keeping the tunnel open for the spaceship to travel through would require the use of a
kind of matter, called "exotic" by them, that does not appear to exist in nature. Thus, the request
for exotic matter is a severe constraint to the natural existence or to the artificial making of a
Morris-Thorne Wormhole. 

This request for "exoticity" is waived in the present paper. We firstly review the mathematics of
spaceflight through a Morris-Thorne Wormhole. Then, we show how to adapt to the
Morris-Thorne Wormhole a particular exact solution of the Einstein equations that was
discovered back in 1917 by Tullio Levi-Civita. The advantage of this new type of Wormhole is
that no exotic matter is needed to make it: only a very strong static uniform magnetic field is
required. These results might lead to a laboratory experiment aiming at creating a
Micro-Magnetic-Wormhole in the lab by virtue of very strong magnetic fields. We finally show
that the speed of light at the center of this Micro-Magnetic-Wormhole may slow down up to
considerable fractions of c, thus providing a measurable proof of the Wormhole existence. 

