Questions tagged [aether]
Aether (or ether) relates to the material which supposedly fills the entire universe. It is a concept used to understand action at a distance. Aether was described by Huygens as an "omnipresent, perfectly elastic medium having zero density", to support his wave theory of light.
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How do I know if I'm spinning?
Clearly, if I'm spinning, I'll feel my arms lift away from my torso. But what sets the preferred angular momentum? Is there a preferred angular momentum in a vacuum? In Newtonian mechanics, I imagine ...
user256436
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What would be the consequences of a preferred reference frame?
As I understand it, the conservation law associated with frame invariance via Noether's theorem is just the constancy of the center of mass at $t=0$, which is rather obvious, and therefore somewhat ...
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If the EM field is a self-propagating field that doesn't need a media why should space expansion make any changes to its wavelength?
If the EM field is a self-propagating field that doesn't need a media why should space expansion make any changes to its wavelength? If it makes changes to the photons wavelength should it be ...
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LIGO's upper-bound on the Michelson-Morley null result?
LIGO is essentially a Michelson-Morley experiment. What is its measured upper-bound on the fringe shift?
The most recent Michel-Morley experiment "Michelson–Morley experiment#Subsequent ...
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Multi-directional ether
In the Michelson-Morley experiment,the two beams of light should be directed at right angles in order to test the existence of ether, but that postulate is based on the prediction that ether has only ...
user65035
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Logistics of Recreating the Michaelson-Morley Experiment
I want to recreate the Michaelson-Morley Experiment and am wondering how technically challenging it would be. I'm not looking for it to be super precise, just good enough to provide reasonable ...
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Why don't the returning beams split a second time when they hit the half reflecting mirror in Michelson-Morley Experiment?
I understand the role of interference pattern in Michelson Morley experiment.I have just watched three videos, they all pretty much explain the set up in the same fashion. But none actually mentions ...
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Why does the derivation for the Michelson & Morley time difference assume Earth moves in only one direction relative to the Aether?
In the Michelson and Morley experiment, we predict with Galilean relativity and the assumption of the existence of a luminiferous aether that there should be a time difference between the two beams of ...
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The local Lorentz invariance is violated in Einstein-Aether theory, but not in Einstein-Maxwell theory. Why?
Einstein-aether theory is a theory of gravity with the local Lorentz violation. In addition to the metric tensor, it contains a unit timelike vector field, called aether $u^a$. Because of the ...
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Is there some kind of aether for rotations only?
Currently I'm reading "A briefer history of time". I understand how the Michelson–Morley experiment refutes the theory of an aether (like in "absolute frame of reference") for translation in space and ...
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Michelson-Morley's experiment - neglecting gravity?
Michelson and Morley's experiment, together with other experiments, was determinant to establish one of the postulates of Einstein's special relativity, namely that the speed of light is the same in ...
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If gravity can only change light wavelength why does then the event horizon not emit light atleast with redshift?
If gravity can only change light wavelength and not velocity why does then the event horizon not emit light at all? If the light does not move away from the EH could we talk about presence of dynamic ...
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What is the difference between Einstein aether theory and general relativity?
I'm currently doing some research on the various aether theories and I stumbled upon Einstein aether theory. It appears to be much different from Luminiferous aether and be more closely related to ...
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Vertical path of the michelson-morley experiment setup
In an exercise I am asked to calculate the time taken for the light to travel the path $ct=\sqrt{L^2-v(\frac{t}{2})^2}\Rightarrow t=2\frac{L}{\sqrt{c^2-v^2}}$. Where the Pythagorean theorem was used ...
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Which time in the Michelson-Morley is longer?
The time for the light to travel along the same direction as that of the ether was calculated to be given by the following equation:
\begin{equation}
\label{Eq:I:15:4}
t_1+t_2=\frac{2L/c}{1-u^2/c^2}.
\...
