The Michelson Morley experiment explained by means of a Higgs Field that rotates around the Solar System Bart Leplae - bartleplae@hotmail.com 18-Aug-2013 This paper touches upon various topics covered in the original article describing the improved version of the Michelson and Morley experiment and puts forward the hypothesis that the outcome of the Michelson Morley experiment could be explained in the context of a Higgs field that rotates around the Solar System. Table of content On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether... 2 The Effect of the Aberration of Light on the Time of a Transit of Venus Over the Sun... 3 Occultations... 4 Transits... 5 The curvature of light due to relativistic aberration... 5 The initial hypothesis used in the Michelson Morley experiment... 6 The outcome of the Michelson Morley experiment... 7 The Michelson Gale experiment... 7 The Source of Light used in the Michelson Morley experiment... 7 Aether dragging... 8 Light-carrying medium... 9 Luminiferous Ether:... 9 Higgs Field:... 9 Hypothesis... 9 Frame Dragging... 10 1
On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether The original article in the American Journal of Science (November 1887) describing the improved version of the Michelson and Morley experiment can be found at: http://www.aip.org/history/gap/pdf/michelson.pdf This original article starts by referring the discovery of the aberration of light which is described as followed in Wikipedia: The aberration of light (also referred to as astronomical aberration or stellar aberration) is an astronomical phenomenon which produces an apparent motion of celestial objects about their locations dependent on the velocity of the observer. Aberration causes objects to appear to be angled or tilted towards the direction of motion of the observer compared to when the observer is stationary. The change in angle is typically very small, on the order of v/c where c is the speed of light and v the velocity of the observer. In the case of "stellar" or "annual" aberration, the apparent position of a star to an observer on Earth varies periodically over the course of a year as the Earth's velocity changes as it revolves around the Sun, by a maximum angle of approximately 20 arcseconds in right ascension or declination. Because the magnitude and the direction of annual aberration precisely reflects the direction in which the Earth orbits at 30 km/s, it is generally assumed that the effect of aberration must occur within or near the telescope of the observer at Earth. This is one of the reasons why Michelson and Morley attempted to measure this 30 km/s velocity. In their article, Michelson and Morley also referred to the motion of the Solar System relative to the Milky Way for which little was known in 1887. Today we know that the speed of the Solar System is 147 km/s with a corresponding stellar aberration of maximal 149 arcsec. The average apparent position of stars is changed by this 149 maximum arcsec aberration (due to the 147 km/s) whereas the annual aberration of 20 arcsec (due to the 30 km/s) is superposed upon this average apparent position. We know that the apparent position of planets is not affected by this 149 arcsec maximum aberration. Otherwise the direction an magnitude of planetary aberration would largely depend on the direction relative to the motion of the Solar System. As a consequence: the total aberration observed for a planet and the stars seen in the same direction as the planet differ significantly from each other. 2
The Effect of the Aberration of Light on the Time of a Transit of Venus Over the Sun A Letter from Richard Price, D. D. F. R. S. to Benjamin Franklin, L L. D. F. R. S. on the topic of the planetary aberration (December 1770): http://www.jstor.org/stable/105919?seq=1 In this letter Richard Price states that, at the instant of the beginning of the transit, Venus and the Sun are separated from one another by an aberration of 23.7 arcsec: 20 arcsec (Sun) + 3.7 arcsec (Venus). The 3.7 arcsec aberration for Venus is calculated as the difference in velocity between Venus and the Earth divided by the speed of light. Since Venus is faster than the Earth, the aberration term for Venus is in the opposite direction as the direction of aberration for the Sun and the (invisible) stars that are behind the Sun. The following table depicts the aberration values (in arcsec) when all planets would be aligned with the Sun and with a distant star: Distance from Sun (AU) Orbital Speed (km/s) Light Source > Observer on v Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Star 0 0 Sun 0.0-32.9-24.1-20.5-16.6-9.0-6.7-4.7-3.7 0.0 0,4 47,9 Mercury 32.9 0.0 8.8 12.4 16.4 23.9 26.3 28.3 29.2 32.9 0,7 35,0 Venus 24.1-8.8 0.0 3.6 7.5 15.1 17.4 19.4 20.4 24.1 1 29,8 Earth 20.5-12.4-3.6 0.0 3.9 11.5 13.8 15.8 16.8 20.5 1,5 24,1 Mars 16.6-16.4-7.5-3.9 0.0 7.6 9.9 11.9 12.8 16.6 5,2 13,1 Jupiter 9.0-23.9-15.1-11.5-7.6 0.0 2.3 4.3 5.3 9.0 9,5 9,7 Saturn 6.7-26.3-17.4-13.8-9.9-2.3 0.0 2.0 2.9 6.7 19,6 6,8 Uranus 4.7-28.3-19.4-15.8-11.9-4.3-2.0 0.0 0.9 4.7 30 5,4 Neptune 3.7-29.2-20.4-16.8-12.8-5.3-2.9-0.9 0.0 3.7 For objects within the Solar System, the magnitude and direction of the aberration depends of the relative motion of source and observer. Special cases: The Moon is travelling along with the Earth and light originating from the Moon is therefore not subject to aberration (except for diurnal aberration which is caused by the rotation of the Earth). Objects on the Earth are not observed with aberration The Moons of Jupiter, despite their significant orbital speed (e.g. Io rotates with 17 km/s around Jupiter), share the same aberration as Jupiter (except for the effect of Light Time delay which is more significant for the moons of Jupiter). Take the situation where a telescope is pointed to the top of a mountain where a small light source is mounted. When this light source is observed in the course of a night, then this light source will continue to be observed in the exact same direction whereas the amount and direction of annual aberration for the stars showing behind the light source will continue to change during the course of the night. 3
Occultations An occultation occurs when an apparently larger body passes in front of an apparently smaller one and takes place at the moment when the apparent images of both objects overlap with each other. The following images show occultations of Saturn and Jupiter by the Moon. Since light reflected by the Moon is not subject to aberration, the effect of abberation for Saturn and Jupiter must have occurred before reaching the Moon. If the effect of aberration of aberration would take place near the observer on Earth, then the moment of occultation would need to be calculated by taking into account when the images coming from the true direction (instead of the apparent directions) would overlap with each other. 4
Transits A transit is the astronomical event that occurs when one celestial body appears to move across the face of another celestial body, hiding a small part of it, as seen by an observer at some particular vantage point and occurs when the apparent positions overlap with each other. The following image depicts the observed (so apparent) positions of Venus and the Sun: Considering the image above, Venus did not transmit any light at the moment of the transit (as there no mechanism such as black photons emitted by Venus). Instead, the Venus prevented some light from the Sun to reach the Earth. As a logical deduction: the 3.7 arcsec aberration for Venus was in effect something that impacted light emitted by the Sun. Light from the Sun was subject to 24.1 arcsec aberration when it arrived at Venus and was subsequently reduced to 20.5 arcsec when arriving at the Earth. The difference between both is the 3.7 arcsec aberration term associated with Venus. The curvature of light due to relativistic aberration This paper is available at http://www.gsjournal.net/science-journals/essays- Astrophysics/Download/4332 and summarizes the different forms of aberration for nearby and remote objects and includes supporting evidence that the physics of the aberration of light must be a combination of local and remote effects whereby light follows a curved path as a consequence of relativistic aberration. The magnitude and direction of annual aberration as obtained by integrating the small gradual changes that take place when light travels through the Solar System is exactly the same as when performing the calculation assuming a 1-time abrupt change in velocity (i.e. the reference frame of the Earth travelling at 30km/s relative the Solar System). 5
The initial hypothesis used in the Michelson Morley experiment The Michelson Morley experiment starts from a hypothesis which can be illustrated as follows: This experiment attempted to detect the relative motion of matter through the stationary Luminiferous aether ("aether wind"). The proposed model that explains the aberration of light in the context of on a curved light path, can be visualized through the following analogy: The preferred reference frame at any point within the plane of the Solar System rotates with the same speed around the Solar System as a planet (orbiting in a circle) would do on that same position. 6
The outcome of the Michelson Morley experiment The initial hypothesis as stated by Michelson Morley needed to be rejected because no significant differences in speed of light could be detected through the interferometer. For the alternative model presented above (whereby the light-carrying medium and the Earth rotate at the same speed around the Sun) the measurement aligns with the expected outcome. The Michelson Gale experiment The original text of the Michelson Gale experiment The Effect of the Earth's Rotation on the Velocity of Light, II. : http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1925apj...61..140m Through this experiment Michelson and Gale were able to measure the exact rotation speed of the Earth. The alternative model presented above provides an explanation why it is possible to measure the rotation speed of the Earth through the velocity of light while not measuring the 30 km/s orbital speed of the Earth. The Source of Light used in the Michelson Morley experiment The Michelson interferometer made use of a local source of light for which we know there is no aberration. Michelson-Morley referred to stellar aberration as a reason why to expect to measure the 30 km/s velocity of the Earth, although this annual aberration is only observed for light emitted by distant stars. This nuance is an indicator for the negative outcome of the Michelson Morley experiment. 7
Aether dragging The aether dragging by the Earth was considered as a possible explanation why the expected variations in the speed of light were not observed. Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dragged_aether) Complete aether dragging can explain the negative outcome of all aether drift experiments (like the Michelson-Morley experiment). However, this theory is considered to be wrong for the following reasons:[1][10] The Fizeau experiment (1851) indicated only a partial entrainment of light. The Sagnac effect shows that two rays of light, emanated from the same light source in different directions on a rotating platform, require different times to come back to the light source. However, if the aether is completely dragged by the platform this effect should not occur at all. Oliver Lodge conducted experiments in the 1890s, seeking evidence that the propagation of light is influenced by being in the proximity of large rotating masses, and found no such influence.[11][12] In the Hammar experiment, conducted by Gustaf Wilhelm Hammar in 1935, a common path interferometer was used. Massive lead blocks were installed on both sides of only one leg of the interferometer. This arrangement should cause different amounts of aether drag and therefore produce a positive result. However, the result was again negative. It is inconsistent with the phenomenon of stellar aberration. In stellar aberration the position of a star when viewed with a telescope swings each side of a central position by about 20.5 seconds of arc every six months. This amount of swing is the amount expected when considering the speed of earth's travel in its orbit. In 1871 Airy demonstrated that stellar aberration occurs even when a telescope is filled with water. It seems that if the aether drag hypothesis were true then stellar aberration would not occur because the light would be travelling in the aether which would be moving along with the telescope. The alternative model whereby the light-carrying medium and the Earth rotate at the same speed doesn t involve any aether dragging. So the Earth doesn t force the surrounding aether to move along with it. As per this alternative model, the Airy experiment (telescope filled with water) does not change the amount of stellar aberration because the physics of stellar aberration take place long before reaching the telescope. 8
Light-carrying medium Luminiferous Ether: Encyclopaedia Britannica: ether, also spelled aether, also called luminiferous ether, in physics, a theoretical, universal substance believed during the 19th century to act as the medium for transmission of electromagnetic waves (e.g., light and X rays) much as sound waves are transmitted by elastic media such as air. The ether was assumed to be weightless, transparent, frictionless, undetectable chemically or physically, and literally permeating all matter and space. The theory met with increasing difficulties as the nature of light and the structure of matter became better understood; it was seriously weakened (1881) by the Michelson-Morley experiment, which was designed specifically to detect the motion of the Earth through the ether and which showed that there was no such effect. Higgs Field: Wikipedia: The Higgs Field is an invisible energy field that exists throughout the universe. The field is accompanied by a fundamental particle called the Higgs Boson, which it uses to continuously interact with other particles. As particles pass through the field they are endowed with the property of mass, much as an object passing through treacle (or molasses) will become slower. Although apparent, mass is not generated by the Higgs field, as creation of matter or energy would conflict with the laws of conservation; mass is, however, transferred to particles from the field, which contains the relative mass in the form of energy. Once the field has endowed a formerly massless particle the particle slows down because it has become heavier. If the Higgs field did not exist particles would not have the mass required to attract one another, and would simply float around freely at light-speed. The process of endowing a particle with mass is known as the Higgs Effect. Hypothesis Hypothesis: The Higgs Field acts as a light-carrying medium and rotates around the Solar System. Although the Higgs Field satisfies a number of definitions associated with the Luminiferous Ether (weightless, transparent, frictionless, undetectable chemically or physically, and literally permeating all matter and space) it is different as it possesses a specific type of significant angular momentum that maintain its rotation around the Solar System. As per this hypothesis, the speed of light is a constant relative to the Higgs Field. In GPS technology, the ECI (Earth-Centered Inertial frame) is used as the reference frame in which the GPS atomic clocks are run synchronized and in which the speed of light is c. Near the Earth, the difference between the ECI reference frame and the proposed Higgs field is very small: the Higgs field rotates once a year relative to the ECI reference frame. This is because the ECI maintains it direction relative to distant stars whereas the rotating Higgs field maintains its direction relative to the Sun. Further away from the Earth, the ECI reference frame is no longer applicable whereas the rotating Higgs Field provides a gradual transition between all objects in the Solar System. Light that is reflected by Venus will initially have the speed of light c relative to Venus; when it arrives at the Earth it will have the speed of light c relative to the Earth. In between Venus and the Earth the 9
speed of light will always be c relative to the Higgs Field. The curvature of light (related to Stellar Aberration) is in effect a necessity to ensure the speed of light c is maintained at any point on the light path. Frame Dragging Wikipedia: Einstein's general theory of relativity predicts that non-static, stationary mass energy distributions affect spacetime in a peculiar way giving rise to a phenomenon usually known as frame-dragging. The first frame-dragging effect was derived in 1918, in the framework of general relativity, by the Austrian physicists Josef Lense and Hans Thirring, and is also known as the Lense Thirring effect.[1][2][3] They predicted that the rotation of a massive object would distort the spacetime metric, making the orbit of a nearby test particle precess. This does not happen in Newtonian mechanics for which the gravitational field of a body depends only on its mass, not on its rotation. The Lense Thirring effect is very small about one part in a few trillion. To detect it, it is necessary to examine a very massive object, or build an instrument that is very sensitive. More generally, the subject of effects caused by mass energy currents is known as gravitomagnetism, in analogy with classical electromagnetism. Frame Dragging may explain why the planets are currently rotating the Solar System with the same speed as the surrounding medium. If a planet would have a velocity lower than the surrounding medium, then frame dragging would add angular momentum and force the planet to seek a wider orbit until a position is reached where the velocity of the planet is the same as the surrounding medium and frame dragging is no longer adding angular momentum. 10