Quantum electrodynamics and the ether

TL;DR

This paper discusses the concept of the ether in modern physics, linking it to covariant quantum electrodynamics in media with a refractive index of one, and revisits a 1971 formalism as an early modern ether theory.

Contribution

It provides a formalism connecting the ether concept with covariant quantum electrodynamics, revisiting a 1971 treatise as an early modern approach.

Findings

Reinstatement of ether concept in modern physics.

Connection between ether and quantum electrodynamics in media.

Historical formalism from 1971 revisited and summarized.

Abstract

The ether concept -- abandoned for a long time but reinstated by Dirac in 1951-1953 -- has in recent years emerged into a fashionable subject in theoretical physics, now usually with the name of the Einstein-Dirac ether. It means that one special inertial frame is singled out, as the "rest frame". What is emphasized in the present note, is that the idea is a natural example of the covariant theory of quantum electrodynamics in media if the refractive index is set equal to unity. A treatise on this case of quantum electrodynamics was given by the present author back in 1971, published then only within a preprint series. The present version is a brief summary of that formalism, with a link to the original paper. We think it is one of the first treatises on modern ether theory.