Tests of Special Relativity

Tests Of Special Relativity

Special relativity is a physical theory that plays a fundamental role in the description of all physical phenomena, as long as gravitation is not significant. Many experiments played (and still play) an important role in its development and justification. The strength of the theory lies in its unique ability to correctly predict to high precision the outcome of an extremely diverse range of experiments. Repeats of many of those experiments are still being conducted with steadily increased precision, and the only areas where deviations of the predictions of special relativity are not completely ruled out by experiment are at the Planck scale and in the neutrino sector. Collections of various tests on special relativity were given by Jakob Laub, Zhang, Mattingly, Clifford Will, and Roberts/Schleif.

Special relativity is restricted to flat spacetime, i.e., to all phenomena without significant influence of gravitation. The latter lies in the domain of general relativity and the corresponding tests of general relativity must be considered.