Related papers: The classical ether-drift experiments: a modern re…
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…
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…
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…
We re-consider the idea that quantum fluctuations might reflect the existence of an 'objective randomness', i.e. a basic property of the vacuum state which is independent of any experimental accuracy of the observations or limited knowledge…
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…
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.
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…
Basic foundational aspects of both quantum theory and relativity might induce to represent the physical vacuum as an underlying highly turbulent fluid. By explicit numerical simulations, we show that a form of statistically isotropic and…
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…
Modern ether-drift experiments in vacuum could in principle detect the tiny refractive index that, in a flat-space picture of gravity, is appropriate for an apparatus placed on the Earth's surface. In this picture, in fact, if there were a…
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…
Since the general theory of relativity (GR) meets some difficulties, it seems that new considerations on the ether theories of gravitation in the history are needed. A theory of gravity based on some new concepts of ether and particles is…
This paper completes and comments on some aspects of our previous publications. In ref [1], we have derived a set of space-time transformations referred to as the extended space-time transformations. These transformations, which assume the…
Cosmology is investigated within a new, scalar theory of gravitation, which is a preferred-frame bimetric theory with flat background metric. Before coming to cosmology, the motivation for an " ether theory " is exposed at length; the…
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 light of recent experimental and theoretical data, we go back to the studies tackled in previous publications [1] and develop some of their consequences. Some of their main aspects will be studied in further detail. Yet this text…
Quantum nonlocality would naturally fit into a version of relativity with a preferred reference system. However, acceptance of this idea has traditionally required experimental evidence. Namely, detecting in laboratory a small angular…
If the presence of a gravitational field breaks the Lorentz symmetry valid for special relativity, an "absolute motion" might be detectable. We summarize a scalar theory of gravity with a such "ether", which starts from a tentative…
We show that the interpretation of $\mathbf{D}=\varepsilon_{0} \mathbf{E}$ as vacuum polarization is consistent with quantum electrodynamics. A free electromagnetic field polarizes the vacuum but the magnetization and polarization currents…
Gravity and general relativity are considered as an Effective Field Theory at low energies and macroscopic distances. The effective action of the conformal anomaly of light or massless quantum fields has significant effects on macroscopic…