The Limits of Special Relativity

The Special Theory of Relativity and the Theory of the Electron have had an interesting history together. Originally the electron was studied in a non relativistic context and this opened up the interesting possibility that lead to the conclusion that the mass of the electron could be thought of entirely in electromagnetic terms without introducing inertial considerations. However the application of Special Relativity lead to several problems, both for an extended electron and the point electron. These inconsistencies have, contrary to popular belief not been resolved satisfactorily today, even within the context of Quantum Theory. Nevertheless these and subsequent studies bring out the interesting result that Special Relativity breaks down within the Compton scale or when the Compton scale is not neglected. This again runs contrary to an uncritical notion that Special Relativity is valid for point particles.Comment: 13 pages,Te

Frequency difference between two clocks at Tokyo Skytree: Contribution of Earth's self-rotation

© 2020 Elsevier Inc.We focus on a fundamental issue about the physical meaning of the results of the experiment by Takamoto et al. (2020). Specifically, one must address the time dilation effect associated with the motion of the clocks around the self-rotational axis of Earth as seen by a remote observer free of such rotation. We accentuate the importance of taking into account this effect in the Tokyo Skytree experiment. This is especially relevant in the light of the results gathered from recent measurements of the Mössbauer effect in a rotating system

LIGO’s “GW150914 signal” reproduced under YARK theory of gravity

International audienceWe provide an alternative explanation of the widely publicized “GW150914 event” in the framework of Yarman-Arik-Kholmetskii (YARK) gravitation theory beyond the hypothesis about gravitational waves (GWs). According to YARK, the coalescence of super-massive bodies in a binary system would induce a related alteration of the respective wavelengths of the laser beams used in the LIGO Michelson-Morley interferometer, and our numerical results well match the GW150914 interference pattern without involving any GWs hypothesis. In addition, the binary merger necessitates a rest mass decrease in YARK (which we calculated to be about 3.1 solar masses) that should be released via electromagnetic radiation emission. Due to a finite (though tiny) rest mass of the photon in YARK theory, there should be a time lag between the arrival of gravitation perturbation and electromagnetic signal to Earth, which substantially depends on the particular value of the photon rest mass, and lies in the range between few years and few hundred years. Thus, at the moment, YARK is the only alternative to GTR, which provides its own interpretation of the LIGO signals without involving the hypothesis about GWs

Comparison of traditional and synchrotron beam methodologies in Mössbauer experiments in a rotating system

Recent Mössbauer experiments in a rotating system reported by others in the literature have involved the application of synchrotron radiation onto a spinning semi-circular resonant absorber. Here, the physical interpretation of these methodologies, and their alleged performance improvement, is analyzed in the light of our own team's past experience based instead on the traditional laboratory setup. It is shown that a number of fundamental shortcomings in the approach reported in the literature deprives it of any practical significance with respect to the improvement of the technique of Mössbauer rotor experiments with a synchrotron source. It is concluded that, at present, only Mössbauer experiments relying on an ordinary compact source of resonant radiation and a resonant absorber both fixed on the rotor promise to provide crucial information with respect to the physical origin of the observed energy shift between emitted and absorbed resonant radiation in a rotating system

The Eötvös experiment, GTR, and differing gravitational and inertial masses Proposition for a crucial test of metric theories

International audienceThe Eötvös experiment has been taken as basis for metric theories of gravity and particularly for the general theory of relativity (GTR), which assumes that gravitational and inertial masses are identical. We highlight the fact that, unlike the long lasting and reigning belief, the setup by Eötvös experiments and its follow-ups serve to demonstrate no more than a mere linear proportionality between said masses, and not ineludibly their exclusive equality. So much so that, as one distinct framework, Yarman–Arik–Kholmetskii (YARK) gravitation theory, where a purely metric approach is not aimed, makes the identity between inertial and gravitational masses no longer imperative while still remaining in full conformance with the result of the Eötvös experiment, as well as that of free fall experiments. It is further shown that Eötvös experiment deprives us of any knowledge concerning the determination of the proportionality coefficient coming into play. Henceforward, the Eötvös experiment and its follow-ups cannot be taken as a rigorous foundation for GTR. In this respect, we suggest a crucial test of the equality of gravitational and inertial masses via the comparison of the oscillation periods of two pendulums with different arm lengths, where the deviation of the predictions by GTR and by YARK theory represents a measurable value