https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-20524-8
Regular Article
On measuring the one-way speed of light
Centro de Física Fundamental, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de
Los Andes, 5101
Mérida,
Venezuela
a e-mail: spavieri@ula.ve
Received:
12
October
2011
Received in final form:
28
November
2011
Published online:
27
March
2012
The crucial problem of how to synchronize clocks and measure the one-way speed of light was originally discussed by Poincaré and Einstein. After being neglected for many decades, the Poincaré-Einstein problem of synchronization revived in 1977 with the work of Mansouri and Sexl, by which the one-way speed remains undetermined, allowing for unequal values of the speed of light in opposite directions. We review this problem in the framework of relativistic theories that assume clock-retardation and rod-contraction. We show that, for preferred frame theories, convection or “open” currents yield a magnetic field that depends on the velocity v with respect to the preferred frame So. We also outline an experiment, based on Faraday’s law of induction, that can determine the velocity v, identify So, and test special relativity versus preferred frame theories. This result resolves the Poincaré-Einstein problem and shows that, in principle, the one-way speed c can be measured.
Key words: Optical Phenomena and Photonics
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag 2012