Bremen 2017 – scientific programme
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GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie
GR 9: Experimentelle Tests 2
GR 9.3: Talk
Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 17:10–17:30, SFG 0140
BOOST: A Test of Special Relativity — •Lisa Wörner1, Thilo Schuldt2, Norman Gürlebeck1, Arne Grenzebach1, Markus Krutzik3, Thijs Wendrich4, Nadan Jha4, Domenico Geradi5, Ulrich Johann5, Claus Braxmaier1,2, Ernst Rasel4, Achim Peters3, and the BOOST collaboration1,2,3,4,5 — 1ZARM, University of Bremen — 2DLR — 3Humboldt University Berlin — 4Leibniz University Hanover — 5Airbus Defense and Space
BOOST is a mission that aims at testing the foundations of Special Relativity. The centre piece of BOOST is a Kennedy-Thorndike experiment [1] mounted on a satellite. It is dedicated to detect a potential boost dependence of the speed of light by comparing a length reference (i.e. a highly stable optical resonator) with a molecular frequency reference. Likewise experiments have been performed on Earth. The current best Earth-bound test has been performed by Tobar et al. [2] in 2010, being able to determine the Kennedy-Thorndike coefficient with an accuracy of 4 10−8. By operating a state-of-the-art experimental setup in space for a duration of two years that accuracy could theoretically be improvement to 1 10−10. With the restrictions induced by the choice of orbit and the achievable stability of the in-build clocks an improvement of the accuracy in the order of two orders of magnitude seems realistic.
[1] R.J. Kennedy, E.M. Thorndike, Physical Review, 42 (1932) 400-418. [2] M.E. Tobar, et al., Physical Review D, 81 (2010) 022003.