In 1905 Albert Einstein developed the theory of Special Relativity. This theory describes the relation between space and time and revolutionized the understanding of the universe. While the concept is generally accepted new experimental setups are constantly being developed to challenge the theory, but so far no contradictions have been found. One of the postulates Einsteins theory of Relativity is based on states that the speed of light in vacuum is the highest possible velocity. Furthermore, it is demanded that the speed of light is independent of any chosen frame of reference. If an experiment would find a contradiction of these demands, the theory as such would have to be revised. To challenge the constancy of the speed of light the socalled Kennedy Thorndike experiment has been developed. A possible setup to conduct a Kennedy Thorndike experiment consists of comparing two independent clocks. Likewise experiments have been executed in laboratory environments. Within the scope of this work, the orbital requirements for the first space-based Kennedy Thorndike experiment called BOOST will be investigated.BOOST consists of an iodine clock, which serves as a time reference, and an optical cavity, which serves as a length reference. The mechanisms of the two clocks are different and can therefore be employed to investigate possible deviations in the speed of light. While similar experiments have been performed on Earth, space offers many advantages for the setup. First, one orbit takes roughly 90 min for a satellite based experiment. In comparison with the 24 h duration on Earth it is obvious that a space-based experiment offers higher statistics. Additionally the optical clock stability has to be kept for shorter periods, increasing the sensitivity. Third, the velocity of the experimental setup is larger. This results in an increased experiment accuracy since any deviation in the speed of light would increase with increasing orbital velocity. A satellite planted in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) travels with a velocity of ...


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    Titel :

    Mission Concept for a Satellite Mission to Test Special Relativity


    Beteiligte:
    Anadol, Volkan (Autor:in)

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    01.01.2016


    Medientyp :

    Hochschulschrift


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch



    Klassifikation :

    DDC:    530 / 629



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