NASA confirms(?) EmDrive - can pilot wave carry momentum?

[jarekduda]

It is hard not to hear that NASA has just published paper claiming confirmation of "impossible drive" - closed resonant chamber:
http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/full/10.2514/1.B36120
http://www.sciencealert.com/it-s-of...wed-em-drive-paper-has-finally-been-published
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/nasas-peer-reviewed-paper-on-the-emdrive-is-now-online

Not to violate 3rd Newton's law, their main hypothesis is that this momentum is carried by pilot waves - they cite Couder's experiments ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrodynamic_quantum_analogs ), nicely explained in this Veritasium video:


In contrast to EM waves, pilot waves could escape through metal walls of the resonator - but the question is if they could carry some tiny momentum or energy?
Are there some experimental upper bounds for such momentum or energy?

 

[Nugatory]

In contrast to EM waves, pilot waves could escape through metal walls of the resonator - but the question is if they could carry some tiny momentum or energy?
Are there some experimental upper bounds for such momentum or energy?

These questions are premature, as there's no well-developed theory behind the authors' speculation that pilot waves may allow them to evade Newton's third law and conservation of momentum, and no experimental evidence beyond the claims made in the paper itself.

The em-drive has been and still is on our banned topics list so this thread is closed, at least until we decide when and how to remove it from the list.

See also https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/nasas-em-drive.884753/