Lorentz-FitzGerald Contraction as the Unique Closure Condition for Moving Spherical-Harmonic Cavities
Abstract
We prove that the Lorentz--FitzGerald contraction is the unique deformation of a resonant cavity moving through a mechanical wave medium that preserves spherical-harmonic phase closure. For a cavity moving at speed through a medium supporting nondispersive wave propagation at speed , the round-trip phase of an internal ray at angle to the motion depends on the boundary radius according to . Requiring to be independent of -- the necessary condition for retaining a spherical-harmonic eigenstructure -- uniquely fixes the Lorentzian aspect ratio Substituting this unique boundary into the round-trip time yields the resonant period dilation , without additional assumptions. Both results -- contraction and dilation -- follow from a single mechanical constraint: preservation of eigenstructure under motion. This is the missing uniqueness theorem of the constructive relativity program initiated by FitzGerald, Lorentz, and Heaviside: the proof that Lorentzian kinematics are not merely consistent with, but uniquely required by, phase closure in a mechanical wave medium.
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Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.27525,
title = {Lorentz-FitzGerald Contraction as the Unique Closure Condition for Moving Spherical-Harmonic Cavities},
author = {Shiva Meucci},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.27525},
year = {2026}
}
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7 pages