Related papers: Flat-space picture of gravity vs. General Relativi…
According to some authors, gravity might be an emergent phenomenon in a fundamentally flat space-time. In this case the speed of light in the vacuum would not coincide exactly with the basic parameter "c" entering Lorentz transformations…
According to several authors, gravity might be a long-wavelength phenomenon emerging in some 'hydrodynamic limit' from the same physical, flat-space vacuum viewed as a form of superfluid medium. In this framework, light might propagate in…
Motivated by the critical remarks of several authors, we have re-analyzed the classical ether-drift experiments with the conclusion that the small observed deviations should not be neglected. In fact, within the framework of Lorentzian…
In principle, by accepting the idea of a non-zero vacuum energy, the physical vacuum of present particle physics might represent a preferred reference frame. By treating this quantum vacuum as a relativistic medium, the non-zero…
Modern ether-drift experiments look for a preferred reference frame searching for modulations of the beat note of two optical resonators that might be induced by the Earth's rotation. We present a compact formalism to evaluate the signal…
We present a fully model-independent analysis of the extensive observations reported by a recent ether-drift experiment in Berlin. No a priori assumption is made on the nature of a hypothetical preferred frame. We find a remarkable…
`Ether-drift' experiments have played a crucial role for the origin of relativity. Though, a recent re-analysis shows that those original measurements where light was still propagating in gaseous systems, differently from the modern…
Re-analyzing the data published by the Berlin and Duesseldorf ether-drift experiments, we have found a clean non-zero daily average for the amplitude of the signal. The two experimental values, A_0\sim (10.5 \pm 1.3) 10^{-16} and A_0\sim…
Modern ether-drift experiments look for a preferred frame by measuring the difference \Delta \nu in the relative frequencies of two cavity-stabilized lasers, upon local rotations of the apparatus or under the Earth's rotation. If the small…
Models with extra space-time dimensions produce, tipically, a 4D effective theory whose vacuum is not exactly Lorentz invariant but can be considered a physical medium whose refractive index is determined by the gravitational field. This…
The condensation of elementary quanta and their macroscopic occupation of the same quantum state, say k=0 in some reference frame Sigma, is the essential ingredient of the degenerate vacuum of present-day elementary particle physics. This…
Gravitation might make a preferred frame appear, and with it a clear space/time separation--the latter being, a priori, needed by quantum mechanics (QM) in curved space-time. Several models of gravitation with an ether are discussed: they…
In the data of the ether-drift experiments there might be sizable fluctuations superposed on the smooth sinusoidal modulations due to the Earth's rotation and orbital revolution. These fluctuations might reflect the stochastic nature of the…
Einstein's theory of gravity, General Relativity, has been precisely tested on Solar System scales, but the long-range nature of gravity is still poorly constrained. The nearby strong gravitational lens, ESO 325-G004, provides a laboratory…
As known from Einstein's theory of general relativity, the propagation of light in the presence of a massive object is affected by gravity. In this work, we discuss whether the effect of gravitational light bending can be observed in…
Whether the space-time is curved or not? The experimental criterions to judge this point are: (1) The results of three classical relativistic experiments in essence are favorable to the special relativistic gravitational theory (base in the…
The idea of a `condensed' vacuum state is generally accepted in modern elementary particle physics. We argue that this should motivate a new generation of precise `ether-drift' experiments with present-day technology.
The recent discovery of "dark energy" has challenged Einstein's general theory of relativity as a complete model for our macroscopic universe. From a theoretical view, the challenge is even stronger: general relativity clearly does not…
Although general relativity underlies modern cosmology, its applicability on cosmological length scales has yet to be stringently tested. Such a test has recently been proposed, using a quantity, EG, that combines measures of large-scale…
The status of experimental tests of general relativity and of theoretical frameworks for analysing them is reviewed. Einstein's equivalence principle (EEP) is well supported by experiments such as the Eotvos experiment, tests of special…