BOOST: A Test of Special Relativity

Abstract

BOOST is a mission that aims at testing the foundations of Special Relativity. The centre piece of BOOST is a Kennedy-Thorndike experiment [1] mounted on a satellite. It is dedicated to detect a potential boost dependence of the speed of light by comparing a length reference (i.e. a highly stable optical resonator) with a molecular frequency reference. Likewise experiments have been performed on Earth. The current best Earth-bound test has been performed by Tobar et al. [2] in 2010, being able to determine the Kennedy-Thorndike coefficient with an accuracy of 4 10−8. By operating a state-of-the-art experimental setup in space for a duration of two years that accuracy could theoretically be improvement to 1 10−10. With the restrictions induced by the choice of orbit and the achievable stability of the in-build clocks an improvement of the accuracy in the order of two orders of magnitude seems realistic.