TITLE:
A Probabilistic Method to Determine Whether the Speed of Light Is Constant
AUTHORS:
Motohisa Osaka
KEYWORDS:
Special Relativity, Light Speed, Mass-Energy Equivalence
JOURNAL NAME:
Applied Mathematics,
Vol.10 No.2,
February
15,
2019
ABSTRACT: Although the formula of mass-energy equivalence was derived from the hypothesis that the speed of light in free space is constant, conversely, the purpose of this research is to show that a method of probabilistically determining whether the speed of light is constant is derived from this formula. By considering the formula of mass-energy equivalence to be a function of the energy of an object moving at speed V, the probability density function (PDF) of the energy can be obtained using the inverse function of this formula, if the speed of light obeys a probability distribution. The main result is that the PDF of the energy diverges to infinity at a certain
energy value regardless of the PDF of the speed of light. Thus, when the speed calculated from this value enters a certain range of the speed of light as V increases stepwise from below 299,792,458 m/s, the PDF of the energy should increase abruptly. If not, then the speed of light is constant. This is the method of probabilistically determining whether the speed of light is constant. An experimental method is proposed to confirm this.