The One-Way Speed of Light: A Simple Formulation

Iyer, Chandru and Prabhu, G. M. (2008) The One-Way Speed of Light: A Simple Formulation. Technical Report 08-09, Computer Science, Iowa State University.

Abstract

The Michelson-Morley experiment determined that the round-trip speed of light in any inertial frame is a constant and is equal to the universal constant c in all inertial fames. Normally a synchronization convention is chosen, as proposed by Einstein, which forces the one-way speed of light to be c in all directions in all inertial frames. We propose a unique formulation for the one-way speed of light in three-dimensional Euclidean space that is consistent with the Michelson-Morley experiment as well as the IST transformation, which is the Lorentz transformation without the resynchronization component. This formulation of a variable one-way speed of light is the only possible prescription that will satisfy the requirement that a synchronization shift along the line of relative motion between the chosen inertial frame and the rest frame will render the one-way speed of light to be a constant. Furthermore, this formulation satisfies the requirement that the harmonic mean of the onward and return speeds along any given line is c and the average speed along any closed path is also equal to c.