Abstract

The null result of Michelson-Morley experiment (MMX) laid the foundation of Relativity and rejected the Newtonian notions of absolute space and time. Logically the null result of any experiment cannot be used to reject the hypothesis under test because the null result could also be caused by invalidity of any of the associated assumptions. The basic design of MMX involves an implicit assumption that changes in the photon flight time in axial and transverse beams, induced by the absolute motion of the setup, can be directly correlated with the corresponding changes in the phase of two beams at the exit end of the beam splitter. We show in this paper that this assumed correlation is fundamentally wrong. It is true that the flight time of a photon between two fixed points on the experimental setup does change with absolute motion of the setup and this has been correctly modeled in the MMX design. The instantaneous phase difference in the light beam, between same two points, does not change with absolute motion of the setup. In the MMX design, phase difference between two fixed points on the setup has been calculated on the basis of time interval alone, without taking into account the shift in corresponding positions on the wave due to the absolute motion of the setup. All modern MMX type experiments with electromagnetic resonators are based on erroneous assumption that the resonant frequency ν is proportional to the relative light speed (c±v) rather than the absolute light speed c.

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