Relativistic analysis of the Michelson-Gale experimental result

Abstract

Abstract The result of the Michelson-Gale experiment, which shows fringe shifts by the interference between two light beams traversing a rectangular loop in opposite directions, has been nonrelativistically analyzed based on the Galilean transformation. We relativistically analyze it via the transformation under the constant light speed (TCL) and via the framework of Mansouri and Sexl (MS). The TCL provides a coordinate transformation between the isotropic frame and a rotating frame, in which the two-way speed of light is a constant c irrespective of direction on the surface that has the same radius of rotation. When using TCL, we assume that the Solar System is isotropic so that the one-way speed of light is c in it. On the contrary, considering its movement, the analysis is carried out without the assumption of isotropy based on the MS framework. The analysis results via the TCL and via the MS framework correspond to each other and are in agreement with the result of the experiment. It is shown that the difference between the travel times of the counter-propagating light beams, which results in the fringe shift, takes place due to the two factors, the anisotropy of the one-way speed of light in inertial frames and the different rotation radii at different latitudes on the Earth surface.

Keywords

• Michelson-Gale experiment
• Coordinate transformation
• Standard synchronization
• Speed of light
• Sagnac effect