Precision tests with a new class of dedicated ether-drift experiments

Abstract

In principle, by accepting the idea of a non-zero vacuum energy, the physical vacuum of present particle physics might represent a preferred reference frame. By treating this quantum vacuum as a relativistic medium, the non-zero energy-momentum flow expected in a moving frame should effectively behave as a small thermal gradient and could, in principle, induce a measurable anisotropy of the speed of light in a loosely bound system as a gas. We explore the phenomenological implications of this scenario by considering a new class of dedicated ether-drift experiments where arbitrary gaseous media fill the resonating optical cavities. Our predictions cover most experimental set up and should motivate precise experimental tests of these fundamental issues.

Accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. Journ. C