The acceleration effect as a general physical effect
Seminars
Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics
Joint Laboratory Seminar
Leader – Shvetsov V.N.
Date and Time: Thursday, 1 October 2020, at 3:00 PM
Venue: Conference hall (3rd floor), Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics
Seminar topic: «The acceleration effect as a general physical effect»
Speaker: A. I. Frank
Abstract:
The report is devoted to generalizing of views at the Accelerating мatter effect (AME), which consists in changing the frequency of a wave passing through a refractive sample moving with acceleration. At various times, theoretical predictions of this frequency change were made for electromagnetic waves passing through a dielectric plate moving with acceleration, neutron waves passing through an accelerating sample, and later for electron neutrinos passing through an accelerating layer of matter. Experimental confirmation of the existence of AME was obtained in neutron-optical experiments. However, since the phenomenon of refraction in the medium exists for waves of any nature, it was concluded that AME is a very general optical effect.
It has recently been shown that from a simple consideration based on the equivalence principle, it follows that the idea of the relationship of the effect only with the optical phenomenon of refraction is unreasonably narrow, and a change in the frequency of the wave should inevitably occur during scattering by any object moving with acceleration. Such an object can be an elementary scatterer, a quantum object, or any device that transmits a signal. This Acceleration effect has almost the same General nature as the well-known Doppler effect, differing from the latter in that the frequency shift is determined not by the speed of the object, but by its acceleration.
Calculations have confirmed the existence of the Acceleration effect in quantum mechanics. It can be expected that a change in the wave frequency should also occur during the scattering of neutrons by nuclei of matter moving with acceleration, which leads to the need to revise our ideas about the neutron optics of moving media.
In conclusion the possible approaches to the experiments aimed at demonstration the existence of the Acceleration effect will be discussed.