Related papers: Explaining Michelson-Morley without Special Relati…
In a previous work we have shown that the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment in vacuum is deeply connected with the notion of time. The same is true for the the postulate of constancy of the two-way speed of light in vacuum in…
An approach to special relativity is outlined which emphasizes the wave and field mechanisms which physically produce the relativistic effects, with the goal of making them seem more natural to students by connecting more explicitly with…
A new derivation of the relativistic aberration formula for a plane-polarized light wave is presented that does not require any use of the Lorentz transformation. The method is based on a modification of the Huygens-Fresnel principle to…
As predicted by A. Einstein [Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 17, 891 (1905)], the electromagnetic wave reflected at a moving mirror is frequency-upshifted and intensified as high as the mirror velocity is close to the speed of light in vacuum.…
One of the widespread confusions concerning the history of the 1887 Michelson-Morley experiment has to do with the initial explanation of this celebrated null result due independently to FitzGerald and Lorentz. In neither case was a strict,…
The concept of matter wave radiation is put forward, and its equation is established for the first time. The formalism solution shows that the probability density is a function of displacement and time. A free particle and a two-level…
Simple ideas that shed new light on the physics of rotation as it concerns two famous experiments: The Wilson and Wilson, and the Michelson and Morley experiments.
The existence of twisted light may be inferred from modern quantum concepts and experimental data. These waves possess energy, impulse and angular momentum. However, the Maxwell's four-dimensional theory of electromagnetism does not imply…
Last year physicists in Europe have measured the velocity of the neutrinos particles. They found the neutrinos moving faster than the speed of light in vacuum. This result means that Einstein's relativity principle and its consequences in…
The special theory of relativity is constructed demanding the retention of the rectilinear form of a trajectory and invariance of the wave equation under linear transformations of space and time coordinates. The usual approach to relativity…
We consider force-free plasma waves launched by the motion of conducting material through a magnetic field. We develop a spacetime-covariant formalism for perturbations of a uniform magnetic field and show how the transverse motion of a…
It is shown without making use of Lorentz transformation that there exists a phenomenon of relativistic zero-frequency shift in Doppler effect for a plane wave in free space, observed in two inertial frames of relative motion, and the zero…
A major consequence of special relativity, expressed in the relation $E_0 = m c^2$, is that the total energy content of an object at rest, including its thermal motion and binding energy among its constituents, is a measure of its inertia,…
Introductory calculus-based physics textbooks state that electromagnetic waves are transverse and list many of their properties, but most such textbooks do not bring forth arguments why this is so. Both physical and theoretical arguments…
The properties of the light, the Lorentz transformations and the relation mass-energy are introduced using the wave picture of the light and of the massive particles.
The wave nature of the light, applied to the kinematics of the moving bodies, permits to investigate and find a coherent solution on some questions raised by the theory of special relativity about the Lorentz contraction.
The equivalence of mass and energy is indelibly linked with relativity, both by scientists and in the popular mind. I prove that E = mc^2 by demanding momentum conservation of an object that emits two equal electromagnetic wave packets in…
Electromagnetic methods recently proposed for detecting gravitational waves modify the Michelson phase shift analysis (historically employed for special relativity). We suggest that a frequency modulation analysis is more suited to general…
General relativity provides an appropriate framework for addressing the issue of sub- or superluminality as an apparent effect. Even though a massless particle travels on the light cone, its average velocity over a finite path measured by…
In General Relativity, the propagation of electromagnetic waves is usually described by the vacuum Maxwell's equations on a fixed curved background. In the limit of infinitely high frequencies, electromagnetic waves can be localized as…