Non-standard clock synchronization in special relativity and the hypothetical ether frame

1991 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 581-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Stone
1987 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 1428-1442 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Winterberg

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.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Robert L. Shuler

This paper addresses gaps identified in pedagogical studies of how misunderstanding of De Broglie waves affects later coursework and presents a heuristic for understanding the De Broglie frequency of composite. De Broglie’s little known derivation is reviewed with a new illustration based on his description. Simple techniques for reference frame independent analysis of a moving double slit electron interference experiment are not previously found in any literature and cement the concepts. Points of similarity and difference between De Broglie and Schrödinger waves are explained. The necessity of momentum, energy, and wavelength changes in the electrons in order for them to be vertically displaced in their own reference frame is shown to be required to make the double slit analysis work. A relativistic kinematic analysis of De Broglie frequency is provided showing how the higher De Broglie frequency of moving particles is consistent with Special Relativity and time dilation and that it demonstrates a natural system which obeys Einstein’s clock synchronization convention of simultaneity and no other. Students will be better prepared to identify practical approaches to solving problems and to think about fundamental questions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (31) ◽  
pp. 1950255
Author(s):  
A. Sfarti

In this paper, we present an explanation of several fundamental tests of special relativity from the perspective of the frame co-moving with a rotating observer. The solution is of great interest for real-time applications because Earth-bound laboratories are inertial only in approximation. We present the derivation of the Sagnac, Michelson–Morley, Kennedy–Thorndike and the Hammar experiments as viewed from the Earth-bound uniformly rotating frame or, as in the case of the Mossbauer rotor experiments, from the perspective of the rotating device. An entire section is dedicated to length/time measurement and to clock synchronization and another one to the Doppler effect and aberration on uniformly rotating platforms. This paper brings new information in the following areas: – new approach for clock synchronization on a rotating platform – new approach for length measurement in rotating frames – new explanation of the Doppler effect and of the Mossbauer rotor experiment – new explanation of the Kennedy–Thorndike experiment. The main thrust of this paper is to give a consistent explanation of various tests of special relativity as judged from the perspective of the rotating frame of the experimental setup. In addition, we correct certain misconceptions relative to clock synchronization and length measurement that have survived a long time in the specialty literature. A special chapter is dedicated to the derivation of the Doppler effect and of aberration in rotating frames. It is shown that such derivation is far from being trivial.


1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Rothenstein ◽  
S Balan

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-235
Author(s):  
Stephan J. G. Gift

The time transformation governing the operation of the global positioning system (GPS) clocks and the time corrections required to ensure sustained clock synchronization are determined to be the Selleri time transformation and not the Lorentz time transformation. This condition, as well as GPS-demonstrated light speed anisotropy, falsifies the Lorentz transformations and special relativity.


2007 ◽  
Vol 04 (01) ◽  
pp. 79-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUCA LUSANNA

A modern re-visitation of the consequences of the lack of an intrinsic notion of instantaneous 3-space in relativistic theories leads to a reformulation of their kinematical basis emphasizing the role of non-inertial frames centered on an arbitrary accelerated observer. In special relativity the exigence of predictability implies the adoption of the 3 + 1 point of view, which leads to a well posed initial value problem for field equations in a framework where the change of the convention of synchronization of distant clocks is realized by means of a gauge transformation. This point of view is also at the heart of the canonical approach to metric and tetrad gravity in globally hyperbolic asymptotically flat space-times, where the use of Shanmugadhasan canonical transformations allows the separation of the physical degrees of freedom of the gravitational field (the tidal effects) from the arbitrary gauge variables. Since a global vision of the equivalence principle implies that only global non-inertial frames can exist in general relativity, the gauge variables are naturally interpreted as generalized relativistic inertial effects, which have to be fixed to get a deterministic evolution in a given non-inertial frame. As a consequence, in each Einstein's space-time in this class the whole chrono-geometrical structure, including also the clock synchronization convention, is dynamically determined and a new approach to the Hole Argument leads to the conclusion that "gravitational field" and "space-time" are two faces of the same entity. This view allows to get a classical scenario for the unification of the four interactions in a scheme suited to the description of the solar system or our galaxy with a deparametrization to special relativity and the subsequent possibility to take the non-relativistic limit.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1976-1981
Author(s):  
Casey McMahon

The principle postulate of general relativity appears to be that curved space or curved spacetime is gravitational, in that mass curves the spacetime around it, and that this curved spacetime acts on mass in a manner we call gravity. Here, I use the theory of special relativity to show that curved spacetime can be non-gravitational, by showing that curve-linear space or curved spacetime can be observed without exerting a gravitational force on mass to induce motion- as well as showing gravity can be observed without spacetime curvature. This is done using the principles of special relativity in accordance with Einstein to satisfy the reader, using a gravitational equivalence model. Curved spacetime may appear to affect the apparent relative position and dimensions of a mass, as well as the relative time experienced by a mass, but it does not exert gravitational force (gravity) on mass. Thus, this paper explains why there appears to be more gravity in the universe than mass to account for it, because gravity is not the resultant of the curvature of spacetime on mass, thus the “dark matter” and “dark energy” we are looking for to explain this excess gravity doesn’t exist.


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