A New Discriminating Experiment on the Invariance Hypothesis of Light Speed

This thesis puts forward a conjecture that, owing to some unknown special character of light, it is impossible to determine whether the speed of light is variable by the interference method. To verify the hypothesis of the invariance of light speed, a new method must be found to take accurate measurement of the infinitesimal change in the travelling time of light. The thesis suggests the adoption of high frequency laser pulse technology to carry out the measurement. On the basis of this idea a new discriminating experiment is proposed to test the hypothesis of the invariance of light speed. The thesis also makes some forecast of the future prospects of this experiment and of the future development of the theory of special relativity.

光速可变及其地面判别实验

通过对历史上验证光速不变实验的分析,表明这些实验并未证实光速与接受者的速度无关。因此,光速不变至今仍然是一个假设。近年来通过对“微波背景辐射”及遥远射电星系发出的射电波的观测表明,它们存在一与地球运动相关的各向异性。这些天文学实验证明电磁波波速(即光速)是与接受者速度有关的,因此光速是可变的。笔者提出了一个猜想:由于光的某种未知的波动特性所产生的补偿效应,使得人们在地面无法用干涉法测出光速是否可变。因此要在地面上验证光速不变假设是否正确,必须找出一种精密测量光运行时间微小变化的新方法。笔者提出用高频激光脉冲技术可以实现这一测量,并在此基础上设计了一个关于光速不变假设的新的地面实验室判别实验。同时还对实验的前景和狭义相对论的有关问题作了一些预测。