A New Interpretation of the Hafele-Keating Experiment

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Scientific Paper
Title A New Interpretation of the Hafele-Keating Experiment
Author(s) Domina Eberle Spencer, Uma Y Shama, Philip J Mann
Keywords Hafele-Keating Experiment
Published 1996
Journal None

Abstract

It is generally considered that one of the most crucial experiments in support of the special theory of relativity is the Hafele-Keating experiment. Four atomic clocks were flown around the world and then compared with the master clock in Washington, D.C. However, the original paper did not publish the raw data. Dr. Keating has been kind enough to permit us to analyze the raw data. We have found that an entirely different interpretation of the experimental data, which supports the universal time postulate on the velocity of light, is perfectly consistent with the experimental data obtained by Hafele and Keating. Thus, one of the essential experimental supports of the relativistic theory of time dilation is shown to be invalid. Instead, the original data provide additional strongsupport of the reality of the universal time postulate on the velocity of light.

This article aka "Analysis of the Hafele-Keating Experiment"