Recent Experimental Tests of Special Relativity
arXiv:physics/0506168 · doi:10.1007/3-540-34523-X_16
Abstract
We review our recent Michelson-Morley (MM) and Kennedy-Thorndike (KT) experiment, which tests Lorentz invariance in the photon sector, and report first results of our ongoing atomic clock test of Lorentz invariance in the matter sector. The MM-KT experiment compares a cryogenic microwave resonator to a hydrogen maser, and has set the most stringent limit on a number of parameters in alternative theories to special relativity. We also report first results of a test of Lorentz invariance in the SME (Standard Model Extension) matter sector, using Zeeman transitions in a laser cooled Cs atomic fountain clock. We describe the experiment together with the theoretical model and analysis. Recent experimental results are presented and we give a first estimate of components of the parameters of the SME matter sector. A full analysis of systematic effects is still in progress, and will be the subject of a future publication together with our final results. If confirmed, the present limits would correspond to first ever measurements of some components, and improvements by 11 and 14 orders of magnitude on others.
29 pages. Contribution to Springer Lecture Notes, "Special Relativity - Will it survive the next 100 years ?", Proceedings, Potsdam, 2005
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