Related papers: Old and new ether-drift experiments: a sharp test …
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Historically, the Michelson-Morley experiment has played a crucial role for abandoning the idea of a preferred reference frame, the ether, and for replacing Lorentzian Relativity with Einstein's Special Relativity. However, our re-analysis…
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…
A new ether-drift experiment in D\"usseldorf is currently measuring the relative frequency shift of two cryogenic optical resonators upon active rotations of the apparatus. I point out that the observed fractional amplitude of the sidereal…
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…
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…
As gravity is a long-range force, one might a priori expect the Universe's global matter distribution to select a preferred rest frame for local gravitational physics. At the post-Newtonian approximation, two parameters suffice to describe…
We study a generally covariant model in which local Lorentz invariance is broken "spontaneously" by a dynamical unit timelike vector field $u^a$---the "aether". Such a model makes it possible to study the gravitational and cosmological…
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…
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…
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…
This paper revisits previous papers related to the theory of relativity. Afterwards, a reconsideration of the hypothesis of ether-dragging is discussed. The ether is compatible with the theory of relativity and historical experiments; this…