Physicist Offers Foundation For Uprooting A Hallowed Principle Of Physics

by Staff Writers

Bloomington IN (SPX) Jan 08, 2009

Physicists at Indiana University have developed a promising new way to identify a possible abnormality in a fundamental building block of Einstein's theory of relativity known as "Lorentz invariance." If confirmed, the abnormality would disprove the basic tenet that the laws of physics remain the same for any two objects traveling at a constant speed or rotated relative to one another.

IU distinguished physics professor Alan Kostelecky and graduate student Jay Tasson take on the long-held notion of the exact symmetry promulgated in Einstein's 1905 theory and show in a paper to be published in the Jan. 9 issue of Physical Review Letters that there may be unexpected violations of Lorentz invariance that can be detected in specialized experiments.

Full article here:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Physicist_Offers_Foundation_For_Uprooting_A_Hallowed_Principle_Of_Physics_999.html