https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-03812-w
Regular Article
A novel Michelson–Morley experiment testing for anisotropic light propagation in gas without violation of local Lorentz invariance
, Brisbane, Australia
Received:
11
February
2023
Accepted:
15
February
2023
Published online:
4
March
2023
We explore the hypothesis that the small signal residuals in early Michelson–Morley experiments with optical interferometers were caused by anisotropy of light propagation in gas due to an unknown mechanism not manifest in vacuum. This proposition does not challenge local Lorentz invariance, a characteristic of space–time which is properly studied in vacuum, but instead suggests an unconventional effect in low-density matter. A rotating Mach–Zehnder interferometer comparing propagation of 532 nm laser light in air and vacuum demonstrated the one-way speed of light in air to be isotropic to the level of Δc/c ≤ 10−9. This result excludes anisotropic propagation in gas matching a classical “ether drift” pattern as an explanation for the signal residuals in early interferometric data. A thermal effect of non-local origin, implying anisotropic propagation with maximal and minimal velocities orthogonal, remains a viable hypothesis.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-03812-w.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
