An Explanation of Dayton Miller's Anomalous "Ether Drift" Result

Abstract

In 1933 Dayton Miller published in this journal the results of his voluminous observations using his ether drift interferometer, and proclaimed that he had determined the "absolute motion of the earth". This result is in direct conflict with the prediction of Special Relativity, and also with numerous related experiments that found no such signal or "absolute motion". This paper presents a complete explanation for his anomalous result by: a) showing that his results are not statistically significant, b) describing in detail how flaws in his analysis procedure produced a false signal with precisely the properties he expected, and c) presenting a quantitative model of his systematic drift that shows there is no real signal in his data. In short, this is every experimenter's nightmare: he was unknowingly looking at statistically insignificant patterns in his systematic drift that mimicked the appearance of a real signal. An upper limit on "absolute motion" of 6 km/sec is derived from his raw data, fully consistent with similar experimental results and the prediction of Special Relativity. The key point of this paper is the need for a comprehensive and quantitative error analysis. The concepts and techniques used in this analysis were not available in Miller's day, but are now standard. These problems also apply to the famous measurements of Michelson and Morley, and to most if not all similar experiments; appendices are provided discussing several such experiments.