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In physics the Einstein-aether theory, also called aetheory, is the name coined in 2004 for a modification of general relativity that has a preferred reference frame and hence violates Lorentz invariance. These generally covariant theories describes a spacetime endowed with both a metric and a unit timelike vector field named the aether.
As historians such as John Stachel argue, Einstein's views on the "new aether" are not in conflict with his abandonment of the aether in 1905. As Einstein himself pointed out, no "substance" and no state of motion can be attributed to that new aether. [10] Einstein's use of the word "aether" found little support in the scientific community, and ...
p. 40: "The cradle of special theory of relativity was the combination of Maxwellian electromagnetism and the electron theory of Lorentz (and to a lesser extent of Larmor) based on Fresnel's notion of the stationary aether…. It is well known that Einstein's special relativity was partially motivated by this failure [to find the aether wind ...
The two-postulate basis for special relativity is the one historically used by Einstein, and it is sometimes the starting point today. As Einstein himself later acknowledged, the derivation of the Lorentz transformation tacitly makes use of some additional assumptions, including spatial homogeneity, isotropy , and memorylessness . [ 3 ]
Albert Einstein, physicist, 1879-1955, Graphic: Heikenwaelder Hugo,1999. Special relativity is a theory of the structure of spacetime. It was introduced in Einstein's 1905 paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" (for the contributions of many other physicists and mathematicians, see History of special relativity).
Einstein's paper includes a fundamental description of the kinematics of the rigid body, and it did not require an absolutely stationary space, such as the aether. Einstein identified two fundamental principles, the principle of relativity and the principle of the constancy of light (light principle), which served as the axiomatic basis of his ...
An aether theorist would have regarded "...nor according to Maxwell's equations" as simply representing a misunderstanding on Einstein's part. Unfettered by any notion that the speed of light represents a cosmic limit, the aether theorist would simply have set velocity equal to c , noted that yes indeed, the light would appear to be frozen, and ...
Einstein's conclusion of an actual difference in registered clock times (or aging) between reunited parties caused Paul Langevin to posit an actual, albeit experimentally indiscernible, absolute frame of reference: In 1911, Langevin wrote: "A uniform translation in the aether has no experimental sense.