Special Relativity Predicts a Fringe Shift- a Disproof of Special Relativity and an Alternative Model of the Speed of Light

This paper refutes Special relativity theory (SRT) on its own terms. Special Relativity predicts a null fringe shift for the Michelson-Morley experiment. However, this author discovered that SRT predicts a fringe shift for some arbitrary variations of interferometers. This is a self-contradiction in SRT. This evidence shows that SRT was specifically invented to explain the Michelson-Morley experiment and that relativity theory should be abandoned. This paper reveals that SRT in fact predicts a fringe shift for the Kennedy-Thorndike experiment. The mistake slipped in when physicists were accustomed to using the misleading concepts of ' length-contraction ' and ' time-dilation ' , which are only interpretations of special cases of Lorentz transformations, instead of strictly applying the Lorentz transformation equations to events observed in different reference frames. Therefore, the Kennedy-Thorndike experiment disproves not only Lorentz-contraction, but also Lorentz transformation. In this paper, an alternative model of the speed of light, Apparent Source Theory (AST) is proposed that can be stated in a few words: the speed of light is constant relative to the apparent source. AST starts by asking a simple question. What is the effect of slightly changing the position of the light source in the Michelson-Morley experiment ? The answer is, from optics, this would result in an insignificant or small fringe shift. The effect of absolute motion of the Michelson-Morley apparatus is to create an apparent change in the position of the source relative to the detector. Apparent change of source position will not result in a (significant) fringe shift for the same reason that a real/physical change of source position will not result in a significant fringe shift. This is the subtle trick of nature that has eluded physicists for one hundred years. Introduction Ether theory and emission theory were the two competing theories of the speed of light before the Michelson-Morley experiment. The null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment gave birth to the Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction and the Lorentz transformation, which eventually led to Einstein’s Special Relativity Theory (SRT), and abolished the ether hypothesis. The emission theory was also abandoned gradually due to moving source experiments and astronomical observations. Despite the failure of the Michelson-Morley experiment, many experimental evidences of absolute motion have been discovered . This include the Sagnac effect, the Miller experiments, the MichelsonGale experiment, the Marinov experiment, the Silvertooth experiment, the CMBR anisotropy experiment and the Roland De Witte experiment. However, the mainstream physics community simply chose to ignore these facts. Despite the accumulation of experimental and logical counter evidences, relativity theory still persists as the mainstream science. Some of the main factors for the persistence of relativity theory are: