Title: The efiect of solar motion upon the fringe-shifts in a Michelson-Morley interferometer µ a la Miller
Abstract: The paper quantitatively describes a crucial experiment to measure the combined efiect of solar motion and earth rotation upon the magnitude and direction of velocity on the plane of a stationary Michelson-Morley interferometer. Following Miller's idea, the variation of fringe-shift is continuously measured during 24-hours observation pe- riods. From the shape of the fringe-shift curves the absolute terrestrial motion may be calculated. The proposed experiment improves several aspects of the original design by Miller. An overwhelming body of experimental evidence consistent with the pre- dictions of Einstein's special theory of relativity (STR) was amassed dur- ing the twentieth century. This evidence pertains, among other aspects, to length contraction, time dilation, and velocity-dependence of mass. Regarding the interpretation of the empirical evidence, many authors follow Robertson's test theory that classifles the experiments consistent with STR as belonging to one of three classes: Michelson-Morley (MM), Kennedy-Thorndike (KT), or Ives-Stilwell (IS).(1) The majority view is that the evidence available up to date provides an undisputable proof that STR is correct. However, during the last quarter of the past century, some ideas of Poincare's were revived. It was noted that, from a mathematical point of view, there may exist a whole class of \relativity theories, consistent both with Lorentz transformations and with a preferred frame; Einstein's STR being the only relativistic theory with no preferred frame.(2, 3, 4) The implication is that, within the accuracy of the available experiments,
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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