Relativistic Rotation: A Comparison of Theories

TL;DR

This paper compares various theories of relativistic rotation using 2005 experiments, resolving simultaneity issues, analyzing Lorentz contraction claims, and proposing modified models with global metrics that align with experimental results.

Contribution

It clarifies the correct simultaneity choice in relativistic rotation and introduces modified theories with global metrics consistent with recent experiments.

Findings

Selleri theory aligns closely with experimental results

Lorentz contraction in rotation is unsupported by current evidence

Modified Klauber and hybrid models have global metrics and experimental consistency

Abstract

Alternative theories of relativistic rotation considered viable as of 2004 are compared in the light of experiments reported in 2005. En route, the contentious issue of simultaneity choice in rotation is resolved by showing that only one simultaneity choice, the one possessing continuous time, gives rise, via the general relativistic equation of motion, to the correct Newtonian limit Coriolis acceleration. In addition, the widely dispersed argument purporting Lorentz contraction in rotation and the concomitant curved surface of a rotating disk is analyzed and argued to be lacking for more than one reason. It is posited that not by theoretical arguments, but only via experiment can we know whether such effect exists in rotation or not. The Coriolis/simultaneity correlation, and the results of the 2005 experiments, support the Selleri theory as being closest to the truth, though it is incomplete in a more general applicability sense, because it does not provide a global metric. Two alternatives, a modified Klauber approach and a Selleri-Klauber hybrid, are presented which are consistent with recent experiment and have a global metric, thereby making them applicable to rotation problems of all types.