Reinterpretation of the Michelson-Morley experiment and its consequences for cosmology
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F25%3A10515723" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/25:10515723 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=OFLqUCHXO9" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=OFLqUCHXO9</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0217732325501597" target="_blank" >10.1142/S0217732325501597</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Reinterpretation of the Michelson-Morley experiment and its consequences for cosmology
Original language description
The Michelson-Morley (MM) interferometric experiment (Michelson and Morley [Am. J. Sci. 34, 333 (1887), doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-34.203.333]) is one of the most pivotal experiments in modern physics, originally designed to detect a hypothesized anisotropy in the speed of light in vacuum due to aether drift. Contrary to this expectation, we show that the MM-type experiments are inherently incapable of detecting such drift. Their null result arises naturally from the Doppler effect acting on the interfering light beams, even in a frame moving relative to the aether. Consequently, the existence of aether cannot be excluded by these experiments. This interpretation remains consistent with Einstein's postulate of the constancy of the speed of light in vacuum, provided phase velocity, rather than group (signal) velocity, is considered. Our findings align with modern astrophysical and cosmological observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which strongly suggest the existence of a preferred stationary reference frame. This reinterpretation of the MM experiment also resolves well-known paradoxes in Special Relativity.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10308 - Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Modern Physics Letters A
ISSN
0217-7323
e-ISSN
1793-6632
Volume of the periodical
40
Issue of the periodical within the volume
34
Country of publishing house
SG - SINGAPORE
Number of pages
18
Pages from-to
2550159
UT code for WoS article
001576813600001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-105017176363