A proposal for detection of absolute rotation using superconductors and large voltages

TL;DR

This paper proposes practical superconducting detector designs to measure absolute rotation and test fundamental electromagnetic principles in rotating frames, capable of detecting Earth's sidereal rotation rate.

Contribution

It introduces novel superconducting detector configurations utilizing SQUIDs to measure absolute rotation and test Maxwell's equations in rotating frames.

Findings

Detectors can measure Earth's sidereal rotation rate.

Designs can confirm Maxwell's equations in a rotating frame.

Potential to test if electromagnetic energy shares inertial rest-frame.

Abstract

We describe designs for practical detectors of absolute rotation, which rely on the creation of magnetic fields by charged objects that are rotating with respect to an inertial frame. Our designs, motivated by an original suggestion by R.M. Brady, utilise the properties of superconductors, both to shield and confine the magnetic fields, and also as the basis of a SQUID detector of the fields produced. We show that with commercially available SQUIDs, our designs can have sufficient sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio to measure the sidereal rate of rotation of the Earth. We consider three different designs: two of these can also be configured to provide a confirmation of the form that Maxwell's equations take in a rotating frame. We can also make a direct experimental test of whether low-frequency electromagnetic energy experience the same inertial rest-frame as matter.