Abstract

Assuming a model of aether non-entrained by the motion of celestial bodies, one can provide a rational explanation of the experimental processes affecting the measurement of time when clocks are in motion. Contrary to special relativity, aether theory does not assume that the time itself is affected by motion; the reading displayed by the moving clocks results from two facts:

1. Due to their movement through the aether, they tick at a slower rate than in the aether frame.
2. The usual synchronization procedures generate a synchronism discrepancy effect.

These facts give rise to an alteration of the measurement of time which, as we shall show, exactly explains the experimental results. In particular, they enable to solve an apparent paradox that special relativity cannot explain (see chapter 4). When the measurement distortions are corrected, the time proves to be the same in all co-ordinate systems moving away from one another with rectilinear uniform motion. These considerations strongly support the existence of a privileged aether frame. The consequences concern special relativity (SR) as well as general relativity (GR) which is an extension of SR. We should note that Einstein himself became conscious of the necessity of the aether from 1916, in contrast with conventional relativity. Yet the model of aether presented here differs from Einsein's in that it assumes the existence of an aether drift, in agreement with the discoveries of G.F. Smoot and his co-workers listed in Smoot's Nobel Lecture, December 8th 2006. Although it makes reference to previous studies, this text remains self-sufficient.