Light Propagation Theory Revised As A Result Of Experiment

It will be shown by experimental results that light propagating at right angles to the direction of source movement co-moves with the source due to inertia of energy, thereby allowing vector light speed to exceed the propagation velocity c. Stated another way there is no terrestrial light aberration.

".. . assuming that the Miller experiments (and Michelson) are based on a fundamental error. Otherwise, the whole relativity theory collapses like a house of cards" ([1]) Albert Einstein, in a letter to Robert Millikan, June 1921

Motivated by the appearance of a previous article about the light in the very useful Book titled the worldwide list of alternative theories and critics (edition 2023), I tried to propose this experiment that tries to trap light beams in a rotating environment. I presented also the related formulas in this work and I could even guess some recurrence relations if the trapped Light-Beam is reflected several times from the moving wall of mirrors. However, the work exposes a contradiction concerning the reflected light beams velocity vectors and this made us suspect the correctness of some formulas when dealing with moving mirrors. This proposed experiment is very interesting, but the most important are the remarks that can be made by observing the contradictions exposed in this article.

The most straight forward explanation of the Michelson-Morley experiment null result is the emission or ballistic theory of light, according to which the velocity of light is constant c relative to the source. In fact, the Michelson-Morley experiment may be seen as a compelling evidence for the emission hypothesis. The emission theory was abandoned mainly due to moving source experiments which proved the independence of the speed of light from the velocity of the source. It will be shown in this paper that physicists hastened to discard the emission theory which will be shown to be crucial to solve the light speed puzzle. The conventional emission theory is modified intuitively as follows. The speed of light emitted from a light source that is moving with absolute velocity V abs is equal to c-V abs relative to the source in the forward direction and c + V abs relative to the source in the backward direction. Therefore, relative an observer at absolute rest in front of the moving source, the speed of light is equal to the sum of the speed of light relative to the source and the speed of the source: (c-V abs)+ V abs = c. Relative to an observer at absolute rest behind the source, the speed of light is equal to the difference between the speed of light relative to the source and the speed of the source : (c + V abs)-V abs = c. We can see that this model predicts that the speed of light is independent of the velocity of the source. This model also predicts the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment because the speed of light is c ± V abs relative to the source., in the forward and backward directions. Change of the speed of light relative to the source doesn't result in any fringe shift because , intuitively, both the transverse and longitudinal light beams will be delayed or advanced by equal amounts of time. This theory is a modified emission theory, a fusion between ' ether ' theory and emission theory.

The Frontiers Collection, 2009

It is shown that the complete description of the propagation of light in a gravitational field and in non-inertial reference frames in general requires an average coordinate and an average proper velocity of light. The need for an average coordinate velocity of light in non-inertial frames is demonstrated by considering the propagation of two vertical light rays in the Einstein elevator (in addition to the horizontal ray originally discussed by Einstein). As an average proper velocity of light is implicitly used in the Shapiro time delay (as shown in the Appendix) it is explicitly derived and it is shown that for a round trip of a light signal between two points in a gravitational field the Shapiro time delay not only depends on which point it is measured at, but in the case of a parallel gravitational field it is not always a delay effect. The propagation of light in rotating frames (the Sagnac effect) is also discussed and an expression for the coordinate velocity of light is derived. The use of this coordinate velocity naturally explains why an observer on a rotating disk finds that two light signals emitted from a point on the rim of the disk and propagating in opposite directions along the rim do not arrive simultaneously at the same point.

2021

The speed of light reflected from or transmitted through a medium (glass or water) moving with speed v in another medium (air or vacuum), are derived in terms of the speed of light c in a vacuum and the refractive indices of the mediums. It is shown that the law of reflection of light applies irrespective of speed of the reflecting surface. A ray of light at normal incidence on a reflecting surface moving in the opposite direction of propagation of the ray, from a stationary source, is reflected with a speed greater than that of light c. The equation for speed of transmitted light in a moving medium, applicable for values of v from-c to c, is found to be different from that of Fresnel's law obtained by relativistic considerations and applicable only if v << c. The non-relativistic equation, for the speed of light in a moving medium, is applied to explain the result of Fizeau's experiment for the speed of light in moving water. It is concluded that the effect on the speed light in a moving medium is due to a media drag on the light ray, as envisaged by Fresnel, but not the result of relativistic addition of velocities.

Advances in Theoretical & Computational Physics, 2021

The speed of light reflected from or transmitted through a medium (glass or water) moving with speed v in another medium (air or vacuum), are derived in terms of the speed of light c in a vacuum and the refractive indices of the mediums. It is shown that the law of reflection of light applies irrespective of speed of the reflecting surface. A ray of light at normal incidence on a reflecting surface moving in the opposite direction of propagation of the ray, from a stationary source, is reflected with a speed greater than that of light c. The equation for speed of transmitted light in a moving medium, applicable for values of v from -c to c, is found to be different from that of Fresnel’s law obtained by relativistic considerations and applicable only if v &lt;&lt; c. The non-relativistic equation, for the speed of light in a moving medium, is applied to explain the result of Fizeau’s experiment for the speed of light in moving water. It is concluded that the effect on the speed ligh...

Concepts from the special theory of relativity are widely held, including time dilation theory, perceived to have experimental confirmation, and believed to have no disproof from well controlled prospective experiments. Demonstrated here is that although relativity for light is special, in being an entity always traveling at fixed speed in the propagation direction from its source coordinate, the notion that time "dilates" for objects in motion was an unfortunate extrapolation: (1) An element is derived, missing from the original analysis, which demonstrates that for bodies in motion, the time required to be illuminated differs compared with that in the absence of motion, but absolute time itself does not "dilate." The times required for a moving rod and for a stationary rod are identically calculated by both an observer in motion and one stationary. (2) Experiments with laser light sources, observed while the earth revolves and orbits and produces variable lateral source velocity, demonstrated that light pulses shift laterally along with the source and target while propagating at speed c to intercept the target. Pulses have a lateral velocity imparted by the orbiting earth, a necessary finding to understand special relativity. Examples are provided that clarify thought experiments commonly presented in Physics texts, and (3) intrinsic properties of light photons, such as self propagation, intrinsic speed, and relative velocity, are discussed. Les concepts issus de la théorie de la relativité restreinte, et notamment la théorie de la dilatation du temps, sont largement acceptés et sont considérés comme ayant été confirmés expérimentalement sans possibilité d'être invalidés par des expériences contrôlées. Nous démontrons ici que malgré le caractère spécial de la relativité pour la lumière, s'agissant d'une entité qui voyage toujours à une vitesse constante dans la direction de propagation à partir de sa coordonnée source, la notion que le temps se 'dilate' pour des objets en mouvement était une extrapolation malheureuse: 1) On déduit un élément, manquant dans l'analyse initiale, qui démontre que pour les corps en mouvement, la durée d'illumination nécessaire change par rapport à l'absence de mouvement mais que le temps absolu lui-même ne se 'dilate' pas. Les durées nécessaires pour une tige en mouvement et une tige stationnaire sont calculées avec un observateur en mouvement et un observateur stationnaire. 2) Des expériences avec des sources de lumière laser, observées pendant que la Terre tourne sur elle-même et autour du soleil en créant ainsi une source de vitesse latérale variable, ont démontré que les impulsions lumineuses étaient latéralement décalées comme la source et la cible tout en voyageant à la vitesse c pour intercepter la cible. Les impulsions ont une vitesse latérale communiquée par la révolution de la Terre, un résultat nécessaire pour comprendre la relativité restreinte. Des exemples sont fournis afin de clarifier des expériences de pensée couramment présentées dans des ouvrages de physique. 3) Enfin, les propriétés intrinsèques des photons, telles que l'auto-propagation, la vitesse intrinsèque et la vitesse relative, sont discutées.

International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), 2021

100 years ago, A. Einstein presented to the scientific world the so-called Theory of Relativity ((1905) Special Relativity Theory, (1916) General Relativity Theory). One of the essential aspects of this theory has become the holy grail of modern physics: "The speed of light in the vacuum is constant". In the last century, this concept caused passionate controversies in the scientific world for its implications on how the universe works, its origin, and its possible end. So the idea that the speed of light can be variable, and consequently the Theory of Relativity not correct, currently it is considered problematic because this idea perhaps fails to explain the wide range of modern tests of general relativity, like the dynamics of the Binary Pulsar and the detection of gravitational waves. The observations of Edwin Powell Hubble (1929) allowed determining other characteristics of light propagation. Hubble observed that the light that reaches us from distant stars has spectral lines that are red-shifted all the more the faraway the star is from us. The Theory of Relativity along with Hubble's observations laid the formulations for another conclusion that marked our current understanding of how the universe works: the universe had an origin, called the big-bang, approximately 13.5 billion years ago. The recent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope has as one of its main objectives to observe the birth of the universe. The conclusion that the universe has had a beginning may perhaps be the result of a conception of how we see nature, everything we know has a beginning and an end! The conclusion that the universe has also had a beginning may be wrong and therefore we can see the need to explain the existence of an infinite universe that has no beginning and will have no end. This article proposes a new theory that explains how the universe works where the observations concerning the "red-shift" are explained by a new property of light called "SLIDING" which increases the wavelength of light. The wavelength increases are only significant over very large propagation distances (million light-years), which is why the change in the wavelength was not observed in the Michelson/Morley experiments. The increase in the wavelength is done without changes in the photon energy. The proposed new property of our universe called "SLIDING" also affects bodies in motion. In proof of the aforementioned, in this article, it is demonstrated that SLIDING can explain the perihelion's precession in the orbits of the planets. As a result of the proposed theory, the universe did not have an event that we can call as it birth, it has always existed and will exist forever. The Olbers´s paradox is avoided because the light that reaches us from distant stars has a wavelength in the infrared.

Journal of Modern Physics Vol.15 No.13, 2024

The self-rotating motion of the earth makes it possible to test the constancy of the speed of light in all directions by measuring the one-way speed of light. The review of the implemented experiments to test the constancy of the speed of light, based on the theory of the absolute system of reference, yields some indications that the speed of light is affected by the self-rotational motion of the earth. Newest experiments based either on the methodology of standing waves or on the Compton edge effect cannot contribute in this field of research. A proposed experiment to measuring the one-way speed of light, and the corresponding relativistic predictions, are discussed.