Violation Of Special Relativity Research Articles

Entanglement, Microcausality and Gödel’s Theorem

One of the key points of Pauli’s proof of the spin-statistics theorem is the principle of microcausality, which essentially states “that all physical quantities at finite distance exterior to the light cone (for ) are commutable”. Indeed, Pauli was aware that if it were not valid then neither was his version of the spin-statistics theorem. In this presentation, we explore the relationship between entanglement and microcausality and point out that in the case of spin-singlet states, microcausality does not apply. Consequenly, we revise the spin statistics theorem to incorporate entanglement and to suggest some refinements to the axiomatic structure of quantum mechanics. Ironically, singlet states are SL(2,C) invariant as is the Minkowski metric of special relativity, although the singlet state is often used to convey “spooky action at a distance” as if it were in violation of special relativity, which it is not. We also pose the question whether the paradoxes associated with “entanglement” can be understood as a special case of Gödel’s theorem.

Readers offer their own magic moments with John Bell

I greatly enjoyed reading Reinhold Bertlmann’s article “Magic moments with John Bell.” Sprinkled with levity, it discussed Bell’s life, work, and outstanding insights and achievements in the foundations of quantum mechanics (QM). In my view, the reading should also make one acutely aware that scientists, despite our expectations of them, are sometimes still prone to the same failings that beset the rest of humanity.Bertlmann outlines very nicely Bell’s theorem and inequalities and the consequences of their violation; that work led to the subsequent startling experimental results on “entangled” quantum mechanical states, which, Bertlmann writes, showed “that nature contains a nonlocality in its structure.” Nonlocality, in Bell’s conception of it, is clearly a violation of special relativity (SR), so we have a problem. The startling thing for me is that Bell actually does appear to solve the problem, at least in principle, but at the same time he seems afraid to say so and, in fact, distances himself from the proposed solution.The essence of his ambivalence is conveyed in the following paragraph, quoted by Bertlmann:It may be that we have to admit that causal influences do go faster than light. The role of Lorentz invariance in the completed theory would then be very problematic. An “ether” would be the cheapest solution. But the unobservability of this ether would be disturbing. So would be the impossibility of “messages” faster than light.Clearly, faster-than-light propagation is not possible in SR. But it is permissible in the approximately 100-year-old ether-based Lorentzian theory of relativity (LR), developed by Joseph Larmor, Hendrik Lorentz, Henri Poincaré, and others. Bell was explicitly cognizant of LR and discussed it in his book Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics (2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2004). It is well known that LR and SR are totally congruent in their kinematics and dynamics, for speeds equal to or less than c. All predictions are identical. However—though one cannot find this in any standard textbooks—the LR ether theory differs from SR by allowing, without contradiction, speeds greater than c.Historically, Einstein’s SR gained ascendancy, and LR was relegated to the scrap heap of history for many reasons, but I think predominantly for the following. SR was viewed as being far more elegant and simple to develop—from the perspective of theory formation—because it followed deductively from Einstein’s two simple axioms. On the other hand, LR theory was developed from a realism perspective, where waves were thought to need a medium to wave in (the luminiferous ether).Considering that Bell was clearly aware of LR and was entertaining the idea, albeit reluctantly, of “causal influences [going] faster than light”—that is, being consonant with LR—I find it difficult to understand his expressions in the quote above about cheap solutions and disturbing features. It seems to be part of human psychology that once a set of ideas or a theory is accepted as valid for a long enough time by a community of people, as has been the case for SR, it gets transformed into belief, psychologically not unlike religious belief. Once that happens, those who would question the established dogma are treated as if the questioning was ill-intentioned, if not downright sacrilegious.© 2015 American Institute of Physics.

Superluminal propagation of solitary kinklike waves in amplifying media

It is shown that solitary-wave, kinklike structures can propagate superluminally in two- and four-level amplifying media with strongly damped oscillations of coherences. This is done by solving analytically the Maxwell-Bloch equations in the kinetic limit. It is also shown that the true wave fronts--unlike the pseudo wave fronts of the kinks--must propagate with velocity c, so that no violation of special relativity is possible. The conditions of experimental verification are discussed.

A strong astrophysical constraint on the violation of special relativity by quantum gravity.

Special relativity asserts that physical phenomena appear the same to all unaccelerated observers. This is called Lorentz symmetry and relates long wavelengths to short ones: if the symmetry is exact it implies that space-time must look the same at all length scales. Several approaches to quantum gravity, however, suggest that there may be a microscopic structure of space-time that leads to a violation of Lorentz symmetry. This might arise because of the discreteness or non-commutivity of space-time, or through the action of extra dimensions. Here we determine a very strong constraint on a type of Lorentz violation that produces a maximum electron speed less than the speed of light. We use the observation of 100-MeV synchrotron radiation from the Crab nebula to improve the previous limit by a factor of 40 million, ruling out this type of Lorentz violation, and thereby providing an important constraint on theories of quantum gravity.

Satellite test of special relativity using the global positioning system

A test of special relativity has been carried out using data of clock comparisons between hydrogen maser clocks on the ground and cesium and rubidium clocks on board 25 global positioning system (GPS) satellites. The clocks were compared via carrier phase measurements of the GPS signal using geodetic receivers at a number of stations of the International GPS Service for Geodynamics (IGS) spread worldwide. In special relativity, synchronization of distant clocks by slow clock transport and by Einstein synchrony (using the transmission of light signals) is equivalent in any inertial frame. A violation of this equivalence can be modeled using the parameter $\ensuremath{\delta}c/c,$ where $c$ is the round-trip speed of light ($c=299792458\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$ in vacuum) and $\ensuremath{\delta}c$ is the deviation from $c$ of the observed velocity of a light signal traveling one way along a particular spatial direction with the measuring clocks synchronized using slow clock transport. In special relativity $\ensuremath{\delta}c/c=0.$ Experiments can set a limit on the value of $\ensuremath{\delta}c/c$ along a particular spatial direction (henceforth referred to as ``direction of $\ensuremath{\delta}c$''). Within this model our experiment is sensitive to a possible violation of special relativity in any direction of $\ensuremath{\delta}c,$ and on a nonlaboratory scale (baselines $>~20000\mathrm{km}$). The results presented here set an upper limit on the value of $\ensuremath{\delta}c/c<5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}$ when considering all spatial directions of $\ensuremath{\delta}c$ and $\ensuremath{\delta}c/c<2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}$ for the component in the equatorial plane.

Lorentz Invariance as a Dynamic Symmetry

If all the forces of nature can be reduced to those which follow from a linear combination of a scalar and vector potential, as in electrodynamics, Lorentz invariance can be derived as a dynamic symmetry. All that has to be done is to assume that there is an all pervading substratum or ether, transmitting those forces through space, and that all physical bodies actually observed are held together by those forces. Under this assumption bodies in absolute motion through the substratum suffer a true contraction equal to the Lorentz contraction, and as a result of this contraction clocks in absolute motion go slower by the same amount. The velocity of light appears then to be equal in all inertial reference systems, if Einstein’s clock synchronization convention by reflected light signals is used and which presupposes this result. The Lorentz contraction and time dilation measured on an object at rest relative to an observer who gained a velocity by an accelerated motion is there explained as an illusion caused by a true Lorentz contraction and time dilation of the observer. Both the special relativistic kinematic interpretation and this alternative dynamic interpretation give identical results only in the adiabatic limit where the accelerations are small, because if the Lorentz contraction is a real physical effect, it must take a finite time. However, to break the peculiar interaction symmetry with the ether, and which in the dynamic interpretation is the cause for the Lorentz invariance, the accelerated motions must involve rotation. Only then can non-adiabatic relativity-violating effects be observed and which would establish a preferred reference system at rest with the ether. Under most circumstances relativity-violating effects resulting from such a dynamic interpretation of special relativity would be very small and difficult to observe, a likely reason why they have evaded their detection in the past. For the rotating earth a residual sideral tide has been observed with a superconducting gravimeter, and which could be explained by an “ether wind” of about 300 km /sec at rest with the cosmic microwave background radiation. However, because of the observational uncertainties in measuring the terrestrial tides no definite conclusion can be drawn. A number of new experiments are therefore needed to decide the question regarding a possible weak violation of special relativity.

On experiments to detect possible failures of relativity theory

Two recently proposed experiments by Kolen and Torr (K-T), designed to detect possible failures of Einstein's special relativity (SR) are analyzed. Imprecisions in these papers are pointed out. Computation in Lorentz aether theory (LAT), with the K-T violation of SR, of the theoretical prediction for the proposed K-T clock experiment prove their results to be incorrect. Analytical computation of the proposed K-T rotor Doppler experiment using LAT confirms the order of magnitude of their prediction by numerical computation. For LAT in the K-T form, this experiment, using a turntable, is shown to give results which could be detected with the technology of 20 years ago. Another LAT model is considered which leads to deviations of SR smaller than in the K-T model. The central point of the approach adopted in this paper is the use of Einstein's coordinates in the comoving frame, even when SR is violated, leading always to isotropic propagation of light in vacuum; the anisotropy usually obtained in LAT is only a coordinate effect.