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conspiracyoflight.com: Doug Marett, "A Replication of the Silvertooth Experiment" (2012)

What it is

A replication done by Doug Marett (Toronto) over 18 months, June 2011 to Dec 2012, with a thin-film standing-wave sensor (SWD) he got from the Jülich Research Centre and a frequency-stabilised HeNe laser [web: URL above].

Findings, as Marett reports them [web]

Supporting Silvertooth's observation (Marett's own list): 1. A 12-hour diurnal change in the apparent wavelength difference between the SWD and the Michelson photodiode (PD) "does exist as was claimed by Silvertooth". 2. The change lines up with the sidereal directions Silvertooth claimed. Peaks came at about 5 h and 17 h sidereal time (Leo on the E or W horizon), with a minimum near 11 h sidereal. 3. Using Silvertooth's formula V = c·λ/(2D) after normalising instrumental offsets, the velocity range "on average approximates our expected motion with respect to the CMBr".

Not confirmed (Marett's list): 1. The SWD-PD difference was not zero when the beam was perpendicular to the motion. A large offset had to be subtracted. 2. Large day-to-day variability at the same sidereal time. 3. Wrong sign. F1 (SWD) was always lower in frequency (longer wavelength) than F2 (PD), with Leo on either horizon. Silvertooth's theory expects the opposite when the beam points at Leo. 4. The 12-hour pattern also appears in local (solar) time, so the sidereal match is not unique.

Other tests: - Turning the SWD sensor from E-W to N-S did not shift the phase of the pattern. Turning the laser 90 degrees shifted it by about 3 h (data not shown). - Marett argues Silvertooth's N-S null contradicts Silvertooth's own theory. From Olga, WA, Leo crosses south at about 33 degrees elevation (December), so some N-S component should appear. - An interference-intensity monitor showed the same diurnal pattern at a single Michelson detector. So the SWD is not needed to see the effect. - Twelve days of logging (Nov-Dec 2012) plus room-temperature and laser-lock-voltage logging. Intensity tracked furnace cycles and room temperature. A second laser pointing N-S showed the same pattern in its lock voltage. - Conclusion, quoted: "it is in fact only a very elaborate thermometer!" Marett attributes the effect to temperature-driven changes in the HeNe beam exit angle. He also suggests Silvertooth's laser, which was not frequency-stabilised, would have been more affected. - He cites Tyapkin (1973) and Lorentz's theorem of corresponding states to argue that a one-way wavelength test is as impossible as a one-way speed test. He notes that SR and Lorentz ether theory both predict a null here.

Other information on the page [web]

  • Silvertooth's papers: 1986 SST 10(1) 3-11; 1989 Electronics & Wireless World "Motion Through the Ether"; 1992 Silvertooth & C. K. Whitney, "A New Michelson-Morley Experiment", Physics Essays 5(1) 82-89. Marett says none of them gives data graphs.
  • Quote of the 1989 description: the photodetector axis was "directed towards the constellation Leo when the maximum value of v was registered".
  • Chalmers W. Sherwin (1989, Physics Essays 2(2) 125-127) is quoted. A slight twisting of the moving assembly, of order λ/4, could make one signal appear to reverse phase.
  • Companion papers by Marett: "A Four Quadrant Photo Detector for Measuring Laser Pointing Stability" (2012) and "A Single Laser One-Way Speed of Light Experiment using a Standing Wave Interferometer" (2011), which gave a null result. Neither was read this run.

Bearing on the claims

  • Claim 4 (the observation): this is an independent report that a diurnal, sidereally aligned signal of about the reported size does appear in this kind of apparatus. The same report gives the replicator's evidence that it is thermal, plus a sign reversal. Both halves belong in the record.
  • Claim 3 (the measurement principle): Marett's view (Tyapkin, Lorentz) is that the one-way wavelength cannot be measured either. That is his characterization; the Step 2 reviewers should weigh it.
  • Note: Marett is a dissident-physics experimenter (site motto "The search for new physics"). He says he hoped the effect was real. He is not an institutional critic.