Michelson Experiment Research Articles

Studying The Foundations Of The Theory Of Relativity In General Education Schools

This article analyzes the methodology for studying the main ideas and scientific provisions of the special theory of relativity in general education schools. Einstein's postulates, Michelson's experiment, and Lorentz transformations are discussed

On the History of the Michelson Experiment: A Personal Recollection (Gravitational Waves Detected 100 Years After Einstein's General Relativity)

On the History of the Michelson Experiment: A Personal Recollection (Gravitational Waves Detected 100 Years After Einstein's General Relativity)

REVIEW OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DETECTIONS: DYNAMICAL SPACE

This is a review of the numerous successful gravitational wave detections and the implications for the nature of space and time. The prevailing space time paradigm in physics was founded on the putative “null” results of the Michelson-Morley (MM) 1887 interferometer experiment to detect light speed anisotropy and which resulted in two different new relativity theories: Lorentz relativity (Lorentz, 1904) and special relativity (Einstein, 1905), with the later invoking the claimed reality of space time, in place of separate phenomena of space and time. Miller (1933) repeated the MM experiment in 1925/26 and obtained non-null quality data, resulting in the determination of light speed anisotropy and establishing the key sidereal effect. It is now understood, since 2002, that both of these experiments are consistent and that the MM 1887 experiment was never null: Michelson had used Newtonian physics to calibrate the interferometer. Using Lorentz Relativity, but not Special Relativity, it is now possible to analyse the data from these experiments and which shows that the Michelson interferometer has zero sensitivity unless operated with a dielectric present in the light paths; air in the MM1887 and Miller experiments. Since that 2002 analysis various older and new light speed anisotropy experiments have produced fully consistent results, using different experimental techniques. These have included: RF EM Speeds in coaxial cable, optical fiber Michelson Interferometer, optical fiber/RF coaxial cables, earth spacecraft flyby RF doppler shifts, 1st order dual RF coaxial cables. These are all classical phenomena detectors. However in 2013 nanotechnology quantum detectors were invented that use correlations between electron barrier tunnelling current fluctuations in spatially separated zener diodes. Not only do all of these experiments, spanning 125 years, give a consistent anisotropy velocity, with speed ∼500 km/s, RA ∼5 h, Dec. ∼80deg S, but all showed significant fluctuations in that velocity. A neo-lorentzian interpretation of these results is that a dynamical 3-space is passing the solar system and exhibits turbulence/wave effects. These wave effects produce gravitational forces and so the experimental data implies that the Michelson and Morley experiment not only detected light speed anisotropy but detected “gravitational waves”. These gravitational waves have properties that are not consistent with the general relativity predicted waves, which travel at the speed of light, are transverse polarised and are weak and only produced by distant major astronomical events. Gravitational waves with these properties have never been detected. The zener diode quantum detectors reveal that quantum fluctuations are not random and intrinsic to a quantum system, but are imposed by the passing space: This discovery has major implications for the interpretations of quantum theory and the quantum to classical transition, which profoundly creates our reality. The dynamical space theory also posses an intrinsic inflation epoch.

Michelson-Morley Experiment another Assessment

Problem statement: Ehrenfest paradox may be the most basic phenomenon in relativity that has a long history marked by controversy, which still gets different interpretations by researches. This assessment is about another paradox in special relativity for observers in none inertial frame that perceiving Galilean transformation. Approach: This assessment reevaluates Michelson and Morley's famous experiment and Lorentz transformation by comparing different observers attached to different space-time frames. Results: The idea is to simulate a situation where an inertial frame will have comparable observation as a none-inertial frame. Hence it would be very close to an inertial frame at low velocity. Eventually it is shown that observation by none-inertial frame is Galilean transformation rather than Lorentz transformation. Conclusion: The outcome of physical experiments observed by inertial and none-inertial observers are completely different as they observe i.e., a fast-moving inertial frame which potentially contradicts Lorentz symmetry.

La cinématique relativiste sous-jacente à l'ellipse de Poincaré

What is the Lorentz transformation (LT) of a spherical wavefront (a set of simultaneous events)? According to Einstein (1905) the LT produces a spherical wavefront whilst according to Poincaré (1908) the LT produces an ellipsoidal wavefront (the events are no longer simultaneous). What is the LT of a plane wavefront (a set of simultaneous events)? According to Einstein the LT is a space transversal (to the direction of propagation) plane wavefront. According to Poincaré, the LT is a non transversal spacetime wavefront (the tangent plane to the ellipsoid). We show that this contrast between Einstein's and Poincaré's theory of wavefronts is not connected with the electromagnetic fields but with electromagnetic potentials. Poincaré's explicit choice is the Lorenz gauge while Einstein's implicit choice is the transverse gauge. In other words, the convention of synchronization of clocks with light signals is not the same. We show that Poincaré's elongated ellipse in the system of the source is not only a direct explanation of the null result of Michelson's experiment but also a direct explanation of the non null Sagnac's experiment. The fruitless historical polemics of priority between Poincaré and Einstein has been replaced by a very current scientific problematic about the best implementation of simultaneity in the GPS system. To cite this article: Y. Pierseaux, C. R. Physique 8 (2007).

Developments in Astrophysics

AbstractJ01 The Understanding of Michelson's Experiment – Paving the Way for Einstein?J02 Albert Einstein's book suggestionJ03 New research on the discovery of the field equations of the general relativity by David Hilbert and Albert EinsteinJ04 Three cosmological dogmas – Einsteins influence on early relativistic cosmologyJ05 Testing Einstein's General Theory of RelativityJ06 Critical remarks on Bruno Thüring's polemic against EinsteinJ07 Einstein and the Gravitational WavesJ08 Computer‐aided Control Systems in Astrophysical Techniques – Development in the Second Half of the Past CenturyJ09 The Treasure from the Attic – Letters from Einstein, Planck, Born, Nernst, Debye, Sommerfeld, Courant, Weyl, Ehrenfest and Althoff to David Hilbert discovered in an Attic in GöttingenJ10 Biographical sources for 20th century astronomers and astrophysicistsJ11 The Rising of Canopus, the Septuagint, and The Encounter Between Shimon the Just and Antiochus the GreatJ12 History of One Defeat: Reform of the Julian Calendar as Envisioned by Isaac Newton

Revisiting the Foundations of Relativistic Physics: Festschrift in Honor of John Stachel

Autobiographical Reflections J. Stachel. Introduction A. Ashtekar, J. Renn, A. Shimony. I: Historical and Philosophical Roots of Relativity. The Prehistory of Relativity J. Eisenstaedt. Interpretations and Equations of the Michelson Experiment and its Variations H. Melcher. The Trouton Experiment, E = mc2, and a Slice of Minkowski Space-Time M. Janssen. The N-Stein Family J.D. Norton. Eclipses of the Stars: Mandi, Einstein, and the Early History of Gravitational Lensing J. Renn, T. Sauer. The Varieties of Unity: Sounding Unified Theories 1920-1930 C. Goldstein, J. Bitter. Indiscernibles, General Covariance, and Other Symmetries: The Case for Non-Reductive Relationalism S. Saunders. On Relative Orbital Rotation in Relativity Theory D.B. Malament. II: Foundational Issues in Relativity and their Advancement. The Unique Nature of Cosmology G.F.R. Ellis. Time, Structure, and Evolution in Cosmology L. Smolin. Timekeeping in an Expanding Universe J.L. Anderson. Gravitational Lensing from a Space-Time Perspective J. Ehlers, S. Frittelli, E.T. Newman. Rigidly Rotating Disk Revisted C.V. Vishveshwara. DSS 2+2 R.A. d'Inverno. Geometry, Null Hypersurfaces and New Variables D.C. Robinson. On Vacuum Twisting Type-N Again J.F. Plebanski, M. Przanowski. Quasi-Local Energy J.N. Goldberg. Space-Time Defects: Open and Closed Shells Revisited R.J. Gleiser, P.S. Letelier. Dimensionally Challenged Gravities S. Deser. A Note on Holonomic Constraints W.M. Tulczyjew. Towards an Action-at-a-Distance Concept of Spacetime D.H. Wesley, J.A. Wheeler. III: Foundational Issues in Quantum Physics and their Advancement. Inevitability, Inseparability and Gedanken Measurement M. Beller. The Concept of Quantum State: New Views on Old Phenomena M. Paty. Elementary Processes D. Ritz Finkelstein. On Quantum Non-Locality, Special Relativity, and Counterfactual Reasoning A. Shimony, H. Stein. Coherence, Entanglement and Reductionist Explanation in Quantum Physics G. Jaeger, S. Sarkar. IV: Science, History and the Challenges of Progress. Physics and Science Fiction A.I. Janis. Can We Learn From History? Do We Want To? L. Tisza. Patterns of Appropriation in the Greek Intellectual Life of the 18th Century: Case Study on the Notion of Time K. Gavroglu, M. Patiniotis. Darwin, Marx and Warranted Progress: Materialism and Views of Development in Nineteenth-Century Germany W. Lefevre . Albert Einstein and the Founding of Brandeis University S.S. Schweber. Appendix: John Stachel's Publications.

Einstein's Writings and the "Kyoto Address" in Original Edition : Along with the Critical Comment on Itagaki's "Einstein and the Michelson experiment"

Einstein's Writings and the "Kyoto Address" in Original Edition : Along with the Critical Comment on Itagaki's "Einstein and the Michelson experiment"

Einstein's "Kyoto Lecture": The Michelson-Morley Experiment

Einstein's "Kyoto Lecture": The Michelson-Morley Experiment

Fringe visibility of multimode laser light scattered through turbid water

Several years ago Swanson [Proc. SPIE 1750, 397 (1992)] performed a simple Michelson interferometric determination of the coherence length of a multimode argon-ion laser after the light passed through a tank of water. As colloidal particles were added to the water the observed coherence length (as measured by twice the distance the mirror moved for fringes to disappear) decreased. Subsequently, a series of careful experiments were performed with a single-mode laser to more accurately measure this change. In these experiments it was found that the 1.5-MHz width of the 514.5-nm line of a single-mode argon-ion laser broadened by as much as 1.3 +/- 0.2 MHz when small colloidal particles were added. At first glance such a broadening should not have resulted in any discernible change in the original Michelson experiment because the gain curve for the multimode laser is of the order of a few gigahertz. The zeros in the fringe visibility function depend on the spectral characteristics of the modes. Upon scattering, the spectral characteristics of the individual laser modes change from Voigt functions, containing both Lorentzian and Gaussian components, to primarily Gaussian. It is this change in the statistical properties of the modes, not the broadening, that accounts for the change in the fringe visibility for a multimode source.

Single-Photon Michelson's Interference ExperimentsUsing Pulsed Light

A Michelson's interference experiment has been performed using a single-photon counting under the condition that at most one photon is present in the interferometer. A CW mode-locked Ar + laser has been employed as a light source. It has been found that the dependence of the visibility on the difference in the two arm lengths measured on a single-photon level is the same as that for the multi-photon interference experiment. This dependence and the distribution of the photon detection time measured simultaneously by a time-correlated single-photon counting method have been found to be explained well by assuming that all the photons in the mode-locked laser pulse examined have the same temporal and spectral characteristics. A quantum mechanical analysis of this kind of experiment is also presented.

Multiple-Aperture Optical Systems

Multiple-aperture optics have certainly come a long way since the Michelson interferometer. Yet Michelson's impressive optical interferometry experiment at Mount Wilson laid a solid foundation for applications to follow. Imaginations of optical scientists were opened to new opportunities presented by multiple-aperture optical configurations. Long baseline and ultralarge effective aperture optical systems were now a possibility for high resolution astronomy and imaging. Dilute apertures in trigued clever thinkers such as Golay. Synthetic apertures at infrared and optical wavelengths became a serious topic of research and development.

Tachyon michelson experiment

We have searched for tachyons in e +e − annihilations. Causality nonviolation requirement demands performing of this search in the form of the peculiar variant of the Michelson experiment. The tachyon production branching ratio is found to be less than 10 –5 −10 −6.

Untersuchung der Eigenschaften der Strahlung eines Lasers ohne äußere Rückkopplung

AbstractThe following article describes the realization of a laser without any external resonance structure and the behaviour of the emitted radiation.The experimental setup consits of a discharge tube closed with Brewster windows and the excitation electronics.The excitation process which brings the atoms to the upper laser level (2 p6 Neon) will not establish any coherence between the atoms.Space coherence of the radiation has its origin in the correlated behaviour of the radiating atoms.Theoretical and experimental values of the fringe visibility are in close agreement for a path difference till to 440 cm, if temporal coherence is measured in an MICHELSON experiment. Interference fringes result if the radiation emerging from both sides of the tube is superimposed. The contrast decreases rapidly with the number of radiation pulses producing the interference pattern.

Untersuchung der Eigenschaften der Strahlung eines Lasers ohne äußere Rückkopplung

The following article describes the realization of a laser without any external resonance structure and the behaviour of the emitted radiation. The experimental setup consits of a discharge tube closed with Brewster windows and the excitation electronics. The excitation process which brings the atoms to the upper laser level (2 p6 Neon) will not establish any coherence between the atoms. Space coherence of the radiation has its origin in the correlated behaviour of the radiating atoms. Theoretical and experimental values of the fringe visibility are in close agreement for a path difference till to 440 cm, if temporal coherence is measured in an MICHELSON experiment. Interference fringes result if the radiation emerging from both sides of the tube is superimposed. The contrast decreases rapidly with the number of radiation pulses producing the interference pattern.

Clerk Maxwell and the Michelson Experiment

WE have received from Mr. Rollo Appleyard, author of “Pioneers of Electrical Communication”, a copy of correspondence that he has had with Prof. P. Lenard, of Heidelberg, on the association of Clerk Maxwell with the Michelson experiment. Prof. Lenard suggested that although it is universally acknowledged that Maxwell played an important part in instituting the inquiry, it would be helpful if references could be obtained to Maxwell's own account of his views, Mr. Appleyard accordingly furnished the following particulars, which Prof. Lenard requested might be published in NATURE, in order that full credit might be given to Clerk Maxwell for the part he took in inspiring the Michelson experiment.

Michelson's experiment carried out in a balloon and also on the ground

Michelson's experiment carried out in a balloon and also on the ground

Societies and Academies

PARIS. Academy of Sciences, August 17.—A. Lacroix: The crystalline schists containing dumortierite and.lazulite of Madagascar.—Charles Moureu, Charles Dufraisse, and Marius Badoche: Autoxidation and antioxygen action. The catalytic actions of various nitrogen compounds. Eighty-three nitrogen compounds of various types have been studied and from the results obtained certain general conclusions can be drawn. The amino group possesses marked antioxygen properties, but the amido group is only slightly active. The aminophenols are especially active, one part in 10,000 completely protecting acrolein from oxidation.—G. Póly a: Linear functional operations exchangeable with the derivation and on the zeros of the polynomials.—Silvio Minetti: The radius of convergence and the singularities of certain Taylor developments and the analytical functions which they define.—Carl A. Garabedian: A disc of constant or variable thickness in uniform or accelerated rotation.—N. Boneff: The arrival in the solar system of a foreign star. A theoretical study extending the conclusions given in a recent paper by Chazy.—A. Piccard and E. Stahel: Michelson's experiment, realised in a free balloon. Details of four experiments carried out at an altitude of 2500 metres and another series at an altitude of 4500 metres. The accuracy of the measurements was not sufficient to confirm or refute the experiments of Miller at Mount Wilson, but it can be said that if Miller's ether wind exists it does not increase with altitude.—A. Korczynski and B. Fandrich: The preparation of nitriles by the diazo reaction. Experiments to determine to what extent nickel chloride with potassium cyanide can replace cuprous cyanide in the preparation of nitriles. It was proved that the nickel reaction could be generalised and that the yields were better than when cuprous salts were used in the Sandmeyer reaction.—Jacques Bourcart: Preliminary observations on the tectonic of the Bouches de Cattaro.—V. Agafonoff: The podzolic process in the sandy soils of the Landes.—Gabriel Guilbert: The visibility of the atmosphere. There is no connexion between the presence of haze in the air and hygrometric state and various explanations put forward to explain the nature of haze are considered by the author as unsatisfactory.—E. Lacroix: The use of coccoliths by the arenaceous Foraminifera for building their shells.—G. and R. Moussu: Normal glycemia in cattle. Glycemia and vitular disease in cows in milk.

Critical observations upon the repetition of Michelson's experiment on Mount Wilson: Hans Thirring, Vienna. ( Zeit. f. Phys., 35, No. 10, 1926.)

Critical observations upon the repetition of Michelson's experiment on Mount Wilson: Hans Thirring, Vienna. ( Zeit. f. Phys., 35, No. 10, 1926.)

The Miller Effect and Relativity

IT is reasonable that the unexpected results of the recent repetition of the Michelson experiment by Prof. D. C. Miller should have made Dr. Silberstein say that they “knock out the relativity theory radically” (NATURE, May 23, p. 798). But though Einstein has built the special Theory of Relativity on the negative result of the experiment, I am of opinion that the Miller effect does not prove anything against the general theory. It should be stated emphatically that the special Theory of Relativity can only be built up rigorously if based upon the general theory, not inversely. The special theory does not consider any but linear transformations. But avoid ing every acceleration implies the impossibility of comparing measures and clocks moving relatively to each other. On the other hand, the usual sup position that the effect of a passage from rest to uniform motion, etc., tends to zero with the time in which it takes place, can only be based upon the assumption that the ratio of the time to the proper time (interval) between two points on any (curved) world line remains finite and different from zero. But this assumption requires the consideration of non-linear transformations, and thus of the general Theory of Relativity.