Other
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001aps..nws.f1005g&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, Northwest Section Meeting, May 25-26, 2001 Seattle, Washington Bulletin of the American Physical Soci
Other
Scientific paper
Einstein's assumption of a constant light velocity (c) was meant for the ideal inertial reference frame of a vacuum space in the absence of gravity or of any other force field. It would be strictly true for an empty universe (no rest mass) with a massless observer using massless experimental equipment. When applied on the Earth's surface it is a first localized practical approximation since the ideal inertial frame can only be approached, as the gravitational mass to which the observer is anchored becomes smaller and smaller. An orbiting laboratory is thus a far better approximation than the Earth's surface where Einstein defined the conceptual experiments of his Special Theory. Turning to the General Theory for the gravitational field only, the field equations (R_μσ=0) actually also allow for a solution with a light velocity > c and the assumption of a light velocity < c has to be made explicitly. Another consideration is whether one should assume frequency independence (Schwarzschild metric) or frequency dependence (Gall metric) of the light velocity. This analysis shows that all of these considerations are important in any interpretation of the experimental light velocity.
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