Geometry of rotating disk and the Sagnac effect

Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate that subsequent application of Lorentz transformations to the cylindrical coordinates on a rotating disk leaves the Euclidean metric invariant. Therefore, the geometry on rotating disk is the Euclidean geometry, and any experiment which do not involve tidal forces or Coriolis forces cannot identify either the disk rotates or not. We also show that, from the point of view of external inertial observer, the difference in the transit times for the light running along a circle of radius R in the opposite directions (with respect to the rotation) is 2w/c^2 S, where S is the area the circle, and w is the angle velocity.