Abstract
Local Lorentz Invariance (LLI), stating that locally physical laws are identical in all inertial reference frames, constitutes the basis of special relativity and is an essential ingredient of both the standard model of particle physics and the theory of general relativity. A well known test experiment for this fundamental symmetry is the Michelson-Morley (MM) experiment (Fig. 1), which even predated the formulation of special relativity. First performed by A.A. Michelson in Potsdam in 1881 it was later repeated at increased precision together with E.W. Morley in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1887 [1]. While their motivation was to reveal an anisotropy of the speed of light c due to Earth’s motion through an ether medium, that had been postulated as a carrier for electromagnetic waves, they were left with an unexpected null result. This was only clearly understood when Einstein formulated the theory of special relativity in 1905 building on the constancy of c, i.e. its independence on laboratory velocity and orientation. The latter has since been verified experimentally at improved precision by numerous repetitions of the MM-experiment (Fig. 2), providing a firm experimental basis for special relativity so far.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
A.A. Michelson, Am. J. Sci. 22, 120 (1881); A.A. Michelson and E.W. Morley, Am. J. Sci 34, 333 (1887); Phil. Mag. 24, 449 (1897).
V.A. Kostelecký and M. Mewes, Phys. Rev. D 66, 056005 (2002).
H. Müller et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 020401 (2003).
H. Müller et al., App. Phys. B 77, no. 8, pp. 719–731 (2003).
P. Wolf et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 060402 (2003).
P. Wolf et al., Phys. Rev. D 70, 051902(R) (2004).
J.A. Lipa et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 060403 (2003).
A. Brillet and J.L. Hall, Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 549 (1979).
P.L. Stanwix et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 040404 (2005).
P. Antonini et al., Phys. Rev. A 71, 050101(R) (2005).
Comparing the resonance frequencies of two orthogonal rotating cavities increases sensitivity to LLI-violation by a factor of two and thus the original design of the experiment comprised comparison of two rotating cavities. However one of the cavities turned out to be of poor quality after implementation due to a damaged mirror coating. Replacing this resonator by a third resonator was not possible, as the only one available had a length of L = 10 cm and could not be fitted into the limited space of the vacuum chamber.
R.W.P. Drever et al., Appl. Phys. B 31, 97–105 (1983).
J. Gundlach, priv. comm.; B.R. Heckel, in Proc. of the Second Meeting on CPT and Lorentz Symmetry, Singapore: World Scientific, pp. 173–180 (2002).
S.M. Carroll, G.B. Field, R. Jackiw, Phys. Rev. D 41, 1231 (1990).
M.E. Tobar et al., Phys. Rev. D 71, 025004 (2005).
V.A. Kostelecký and M. Mewes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 251304 (2001).
The notation in (5) and (6) has been changed in a straightforward way compared to the notation in [2]
H. Müller et al., Phys. Rev. D67, 056006 (2003)
H. Müller et al., Phys. Rev. D 68, 116006 (2003).
H. Müller Phys. Rev. D 71, 045004 (2005).
H.P. Robertson, Rev. Mod. Phys. 21, 378 (1949).
R.M. Mansouri and R.U. Sexl, Gen. Rel. Gravit. 8, 497 (1977); see also C. Lämmerzahl et al., Int. J. Mod. Phys. D 11, 1109 (2002).
To perform a complete test of LLI, i.e. to determine the complete set of test parameters α, β, δ two further experiments are required: The Kennedy-Thorndike experiment [5, 24, 25] is sensitive to boost dependence of c = c(v) and tests a parameter combination A = (α - β + 1). The Ives-Stilwell experiment [26, 27] measures the quadratic Doppler effect and determines (α + 1/2).
C. Braxmaier et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 010401 (2001)
R.J. Kennedy and E.M. Thorndike, Phys. Rev. 42, 400 (1932).
G. Saathoff et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 190403 (2003).
H.E. Ives and G.R. Stilwell, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 28, 215 (1938).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Herrmann, S., Senger, A., Kovalchuk, E., Müller, H., Peters, A. (2006). Test of Lorentz Invariance Using a Continuously Rotating Optical Resonator. In: Ehlers, J., Lämmerzahl, C. (eds) Special Relativity. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 702. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg . https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-34523-X_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-34523-X_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-34522-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-34523-7
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)