Ives-Stilwell Experiments Research Articles

A Lorentz variant theory that passes fundamental tests of special relativity and makes diverging, testable but as of yet untested predictions

Background Tests of special relativity have been conducted over the past century with increasing accuracy and none have showed violations of Lorentz invariance. In this paper we will examine whether these tests are together sufficient to rule out theories that violate observational symmetry. Methods A variant theory is outlined where relativistic effects such as length contraction and time dilation are purely local consequences of the relative velocity between a system and its medium. The outlined theory is tested against the fundamental tests of special relativity. Results It is found that although this alteration does not align with the principle of relativity, it quantitatively aligns with the experimental results of the fundamental tests of special relativity and their modern variations, and makes diverging, testable but as of yet untested predictions concerning Doppler shift and time dilation. Conclusions These results warrant a closer theoretical inspection of the outlined theory, and could provide a direction to test for new physics. A modified Ives-Stilwell experiment is proposed to test between this model and special relativity.

The Ives-Stilwell Experiment for the Case of the Accelerated Source

The Ives-Stilwell Experiment for the Case of the Accelerated Source

The Procrustean Bed effect for light

This paper proposes a new way of describing the propagation of light between an emitter and an observer in relative motion as an alternative to Lorentz transformations and the relativistic Doppler effect. We introduce a refined Doppler effect that we call the Procrustean Bed (PB) effect for light, where light waves change in frequency, length, and speed. The PB confirms the wave nature of light and acknowledges the existence of a luminiferous medium (ether) that conditions a constant speed of light in accordance with Maxwell’s predictions. Our results are consistent with the Ives-Stilwell experiment (a fundamental test to validate special relativity), relating the transmitted light frequency to the geometric mean of its observed parallel and anti-parallel frequencies. However, PB revealed that emitters and observers can have relative motions beyond the speed of light, where negative frequencies can be observed, which in some cases appear to come from the opposite direction of their source. If this effect is applied to gravity waves, it may result in observers experiencing a repulsive gravity, which may contribute to the expanding universe.

Modeling Clock Comparison Experiments to Test Special Relativity

The clock comparison experiments to test special relativity mainly include the Michelson–Morley experiment, Kennedy–Thorndike experiment, Ives–Stilwell experiment and the comparison experiment of atomic clocks in two locations. These experiments can be roughly classified as the comparison of two types of clocks: optical clocks and atomic clocks. Through the comparison of such clocks, Lorentz invariance breaking parameters in the RMS framework can be tested. However, in such experiments, the structural effects of optical clocks have been fully considered, yet the structural effects of atomic clocks have not been carefully studied. Based on this, this paper analyzes the structural effects of atomic clocks in detail and divides the experiments into six types: the comparison of two atomic clocks, two optical clocks, and atomic clocks and optical clocks placed in different and the same locations. Finally, correction parameters for the experimental measurements are given.

A Lorentz variant theory that passes fundamental tests of special relativity and makes diverging, testable but as of yet untested predictions.

Tests of special relativity have been conducted over the past century with increasing accuracy and none have showed violations of Lorentz invariance. In this paper we will examine whether these tests are together sufficient to rule out theories that violate observational symmetry. A variant theory is outlined where relativistic effects such as length contraction and time dilation are purely local consequences of the relative velocity between a system and its medium. The outlined theory is tested against the fundamental tests of special relativity. It is found that although this alteration does not align with the principle of relativity, it quantitatively aligns with the experimental results of the fundamental tests of special relativity and their modern variations, and makes diverging, testable but as of yet untested predictions concerning Doppler shift and time dilation. These results warrant a closer theoretical inspection of the outlined theory, and could provide a direction to test for new physics. A modified Ives-Stilwell experiment is proposed to test between this model and special relativity.

Tests for Light Speed Isotropy: Experimental Method for Constraining the Mansouri-Sexl Parameter a by Using Ring Laser Gyroscopes

The Mansouri-Sexl theory is a well known test theory of relativity, alongside with the Standard Model Extension it is the golden standard for testing the predictions of special relativity. Mansouri and Sexl dealt with the theory of the Michelson-Morley, Kennedy-Thorndike and Ives-Stilwell experiments but left out the very interesting Sagnac experiment. In this paper we present a novel experimental measurement of light speed anisotropy via the reenactment of the Sagnac experiment using ring laser gyroscopes (RLG) and we constrain the Mansouri-Sexl parameter ato less than 0.5±0.98⇥10 6. In a recent paper [1] we have shown how to use fiberoptics gyroscopes for constraining the parameter a, in the present paper we show how the ring laser gyroscopes are used for constraining light speed anisotropy in the framework of the Mansouri-

The case of the Doppler effect for photons revisited

A detailed account is presented of the Doppler effect as a photon phenomenon, complementing a recent paper by Giuliani (2013 Eur. J. Phys. 34 1035–47). The essence of Schrödinger's pioneering derivation (1922 Phys. Z. 23 301–3) of a Doppler formula in terms of the corpuscular theory of light, using energy–momentum conservation, is related. Some neglected references that put the whole scene around the Ives–Stilwell experiment into a more precise perspective are highlighted. Atoms as clocks and particle–wave complementarity are also discussed briefly.

Anti-Relativity in Action: The Scientific Activity of Herbert E. Ives between 1937 and 1953

Between 1937 and 1953 the industrial physicist Herbert E. Ives pursued an extended research program with the aim of challenging the acceptance of relativity theories, and became the most important American opponent of Einstein during that era. As part of his anti-relativistic efforts Ives also performed the famous Ives-Stilwell experiment. Usually interpreted as the first direct confirmation of the time dilation formula of special relativity theory, this experiment was regarded by Ives as proof of what he called the Larmor-Lorentz theory. Ives’s heterodox views about relativity were mainly ignored by the scientific community during his lifetime. After his death, however, his criticisms of what the majority of physicists took for granted helped spark philosophical discussions in the late 1950s concerning the conventional stipulation of distant simultaneity in special relativity theory. Ives’s anti-relativistic beliefs and actions allow for an analysis of the heterodox efforts of an accredited member of the scientific community and the subsequent process of his professional marginalization in a specific historical and scientific context. This paper has three aims: to uncover the epistemic roots of Ives’s opposition to relativity; to analyze Ives’s rhetorical strategies and the reasons why he failed to persuade his peers; and to reveal the divergence between the public network of allies Ives built in scientific publications and the hidden network of allies present in his correspondence. It will become clear that the hardening of Ives’s tone against relativity and Einstein can be understood in light of his progressive marginalization and loss of recognized socioprofessional identity due to his unorthodox ideas. Ives’s case is illuminating for the historical, philosophical, and sociological perspectives it provides on the complex mechanisms by which the margins interact with the mainstream of science, both in the production of certified knowledge and in the contextually contingent redefinition and reconfiguration of the boundaries of acceptable scientific discourse.

The Effect of the Relative Motion of Atoms on the Frequency of the Emitted Light and the Reinterpretation of the Ives-Stilwell Experiment

We examine the process of the emission of light from an atom that is in a relative translational motion with respect to the medium at rest in which the electromagnetic excitations propagate. The effect of Lorentz contraction of the of electron orbits on the emitted frequency is incorporated in the Rydberg formula, as well as the emitter’s Doppler effect is acknowledged. The result is that the frequency of the emitted light is modified by a factor that is identical with what is called the ‘relativistic Doppler effect’. The new emission formula is applied for reinterpretation of the Ives-Stilwell experiment and shown that within the second order of approximation with respect to the speeds of the atom and the ‘absolute speed’ (Earth’s speed relative to the medium), the absolute motion does not affect the interference. The expression for the modification of the frequency involves both a first and a second-order term with respect to the speed of the atoms in the cathode tube. The latter turns out to be quantitatively the same as if the time would have changed its rate in the frame moving with the atoms. Thus, a new interpretation of the results of this famous experiment is provided without stipulating time dilation.

IMPROVED TESTS OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY VIA LIGHT SPEED ANISOTROPY MEASUREMENT

The Mansouri–Sexl theory is a well-known test theory of relativity. In the following paper we demonstrate a novel way of detecting second-order effects in terms of both lab and ion speed for light speed anisotropy detection. Prior literature15,18–21 has shown the way of constraining the Mansouri–Sexl parameter "a" via the Ives–Stilwell experiment, however, the prior approaches have proven to be incomplete in managing to constrain only one parameter, the "a" parameter. In the current paper we will take the unprecedented step of reconstructing the Mansouri–Sexl formalism for the Ives–Stilwell experiment and by showing how to improve on the theoretical and experimental bases such as to constrain both the parameter "a" and the parameter "b". Our paper is organized as follows: in the first section we give a new and more complete derivation of the Mansouri–Sexl Doppler effect. In the second part, we apply the newly expanded Mansouri–Sexl Doppler formalism in order to revise the principles of the Ives–Stilwell experiment. We continue by showing how the revised experiment is to be used in order to constrain both the parameter "a" and the parameter "b" in a measurement of light speed isotropy. This turns the Mansouri–Sexl Ives–Stilwell experiment into a very powerful tool for constraining light speed anisotropy.

Detection of light speed anisotropy via a high-speed Ives–Stillwell experiment

The Mansouri–Sexl theory is a well-known test of the theory of relativity. In one of their three papers (R. Mansouri and S.U. Sexl. Gen. Rel. Grav. 8, 809 (1977).), Mansouri and Sexl deal with the transverse Doppler effect under a set of restrictive conditions. In this paper, we deal with the same effect under the most general conditions and will argue for a novel way of detecting high-order effects in a vacuum via an increased laboratory-speed re-enactment of the Ives–Stilwell experiment. We will demonstrate the presence of a high-order error term and we will set the experimental conditions for detecting such a term.PACS No.: 03.30+p

A Suggested Alternative to the Current Interpretation of the Fizeau and Ives‐Stilwell Experiments

A Suggested Alternative to the Current Interpretation of the Fizeau and Ives‐Stilwell Experiments

Doppler spectroscopy on relativistic particle beams in the light of a test theory of special relativity

Modern experimental techniques based on collinear laser spectroscopy have led to greatly improved versions of the classical Ives-Stilwell experiment. The new experiments employ collinear laser beams and measure the Doppler shift as it is seen in the rest frame of a relativistic particle beam. This note analyzes these experiments in the framework of a test theory of special relativity due to Mansouri and Sexl. It is found that the experiments can test the coefficient functiona(υ2 (responsible for time dilation), but are insensitive tob,d andɛ. While the Mansouri-Sexl theory in principle allows for an anisotropy of the velocity of light with respect to a moving reference frame, anisotropy effects cancel out in Ives-Stilwell type experiments. These experiments by themselves are not sufficient for a direct observation of such an anisotropy.

Revised Robertson's test theory of special relativity

The only test theory used by workers in the field of testing special relativity to analyze the significance of their experiments is the proof by H. P. Robertson [Rev. Mod. Phys. 21, 378 (1949)] of the Lorentz transformations from the results of the experimental evidence. Some researchers would argue that the proof contains an unwarranted assumption disguised as a convention about synchronization procedures. Others would say that alternative conventions are possible. In the present paper, no convention is used, but the Lorentz transformations are still obtained using only the results of the experiments in Robertson's proof, namely the Michelson-Morley, Kennedy-Thorndike, and Ives-Stilwell experiments. Thus the revised proof is a valid test theory which is independent of any conventions, since one appeals only to the experimental evidence. The analysis of that evidence shows the directions in which efforts to test special relativity should go. Finally it is shown how the resulting test theory still has to be improved for consistency in the analysis of experiments with complicated experimental setups, how it can be simplified for expediency as to what should be tested, and how it should be completed for a missing step not considered by Robertson.

Remarks on the derivation of the Lorentz trasformation

An attempt is made to replace the principle of relativity in the derivation of the Lorentz transformation by an alternative postulate concerning the behavior of clocks. It will be shown by means of thought experiments that this postulate is not quite sufficient to obtain the Lorentz transformations and that an additional postulate concerning the absence of length contraction of a rod in the direction normal to its motion (proved indirectly via the Ives-Stilwell experiment) is needed to complete the derivation.