Holger MüllerModerne optische Tests der Relativitätstheorie

About this book deutschenglish

Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity (SR) underlies all accepted laws of pyhsics at the fundamental level. However, approaches towards a quantum theory of gravity (e.g., string theory) lead to minuscule violations of SR. Highest precision tests of the theory are thus an important challenge for fundamental research.

The present work describes a modern Michelson-Morley experiment, based on a comparison of the resoance frequencies of two cryogenic optical resonators, and its theoretical foundations. As a result, it places upper limits on various possible violations of SR, that are either the first ones, or represent improvements of up to two orders of magnitude over the best previous experiment.