Calorimetric test of special relativity

Journal Article · Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1984 · Physical Review, A (General Physics)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.29.2110· OSTI ID:1446354

Walz, Dieter R. ^[1]; Noyes, H. Pierre ^[1]; Carezani, Ricardo L. ^[2]

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1. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
2. Bayview Towers, San Francisco, CA (United States)

Momentum-analyzed beams of 20 and 17.326 GeV/c electrons with average currents of 4.23 and 4.55, and 9.48, 9.57, 14.4, and 15.66 μA, respectively, are predicted by special relativity to have average powers of 84.5 and 91, and 164.3, 165.8, 249.5, and 271.3 kW, respectively. This prediction is checked to 30% in a calorimetric experiment using the temperature rise in the cooling water of a high-energy beam dump at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. To our knowledge, this is the first macroscopic test specifically carried out to test this aspect of special relativity at these particle energies and power levels, although an earlier sequence of tests using copper as the heat absorber have been performed at this laboratory at lower power levels, and confirms the theory to higher accuracy.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1446354
• Report Number(s): SLAC-PUB--2890
• Journal Information: Physical Review, A (General Physics), Journal Name: Physical Review, A (General Physics) Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 29; ISSN PLRAAN; ISSN 0556-2791
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS