Testing quantised inertia on the emdrive

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel explanation for the emdrive's thrust using Unruh radiation and cavity geometry, successfully predicting observed thrusts and suggesting a new inertial mass mechanism for photons.

Contribution

It introduces a theory linking Unruh radiation to inertial mass of photons in the emdrive, providing a predictive model for its thrust based on cavity shape.

Findings

Model predicts thrusts close to observed values

Thrust direction reverses when cavity length equals small end diameter

Supports Unruh radiation as a mechanism for inertial mass in this context

Abstract

It has been shown that truncated cone-shaped cavities with microwaves resonating within them move slightly towards their narrow ends (the emdrive). Standard physics has no explanation for this and an error has not yet been found. It is shown here that this effect can be predicted by assuming that the inertial mass of the photons in the cavity is caused by Unruh radiation, whose wavelengths must fit exactly within the cavity, using a theory already applied successfully to astrophysical anomalies such as galaxy rotation where the Unruh waves have to fit within the Hubble scale. In the emdrive this means that more Unruh waves are allowed at the wide end, leading to a greater inertial mass for the photons there, and to conserve momentum the cavity must move towards its narrow end, as observed. The model predicts thrusts of: 3.8, 149, 7.3, 0.23, 0.57, 0.11, 0.64 and 0.02 mN compared with the observed thrusts of: 16, 147, 9, 0.09, 0.05, 0.06, 0.03, and 0.02 mN and predicts that if the axial length is equal to the diameter of the small end of the cavity, the thrust should be reversed.