{"title":"On the speed of light in a vacuum in the presence of a magnetic field","authors":"Jonathan Agil, Rémy Battesti, Carlo Rizzo","doi":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-023-00050-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The nature of light, the existence of magnetism, and the physical meaning of a vacuum are the problems so deeply related to philosophy that they have been discussed for thousands of years. In this paper, we concentrate ourselves on a question that concerns the three of them: does light speed in a vacuum change when a magnetic field is present? The experimental answer to this fundamental question has not yet been given even if it has been stated in modern terms for more than a century. To fully understand the importance of such a question in physics, we review the main facts and concepts from the historical point of view.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The European Physical Journal H","FirstCategoryId":"4","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjh/s13129-023-00050-7","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The nature of light, the existence of magnetism, and the physical meaning of a vacuum are the problems so deeply related to philosophy that they have been discussed for thousands of years. In this paper, we concentrate ourselves on a question that concerns the three of them: does light speed in a vacuum change when a magnetic field is present? The experimental answer to this fundamental question has not yet been given even if it has been stated in modern terms for more than a century. To fully understand the importance of such a question in physics, we review the main facts and concepts from the historical point of view.
期刊介绍:
The purpose of this journal is to catalyse, foster, and disseminate an awareness and understanding of the historical development of ideas in contemporary physics, and more generally, ideas about how Nature works.
The scope explicitly includes:
- Contributions addressing the history of physics and of physical ideas and concepts, the interplay of physics and mathematics as well as the natural sciences, and the history and philosophy of sciences, together with discussions of experimental ideas and designs - inasmuch as they clearly relate, and preferably add, to the understanding of modern physics.
- Annotated and/or contextual translations of relevant foreign-language texts.
- Careful characterisations of old and/or abandoned ideas including past mistakes and false leads, thereby helping working physicists to assess how compelling contemporary ideas may turn out to be in future, i.e. with hindsight.