First principles for analysis and confirmation of relativistic Doppler effect

First principles for analysis and confirmation of relativistic Doppler effect | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article First principles for analysis and confirmation of relativistic Doppler effect Changbiao Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7716128/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ives-Stilwell experiment in 1938 is a historic experiment for confirming Ein-stein’s special relativity, and various modern types have been repeated by use of laser technology. However in this paper, we reveal and solve a fundamental issue that the data analysis for all those experiments is not consistent with Ein-stein’s definition of the relativistic Doppler effect so that the Doppler effect has not actually been confirmed. For example, in the Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 120405 (2014)] the definition of the measurement accuracy of Doppler effect, given by ε = sqrt[ νaνp /(ν1ν2) ]− 1, is not physical because Einstein’s Doppler formula cannot be confirmed even when ε = 0 holds (see Appendix A). We argue that there are two first principles for analyzing and confirming Einstein’s Doppler effect, stating: (i) Einstein’s Doppler effect refers to the same photon (or laser beam) exhibiting different frequencies observed in different inertial frames, and (ii) the quantity (or measurement accuracy) used as a measure to confirm the effect must be able to confirm Einstein’s Doppler formula itself. Unfortunately , the data analysis for the 1938 Ives-Stilwell experiment does not comply with the first principles, so it fails to confirm the relativistic effect (see Appendix B), although this data analysis has been mimicked by quite a few generations of physicists. Based on the first principles, we propose a justified data analysis and correctly confirm the Doppler effect in the Ives-Stilwell-type experiment, thus resulting in a great advance in the experimental verification of Lorentz invariance via the Doppler effect. Ives-Stilwell experiment Laser beam Relativistic Doppler effect Invariance of Lorentz Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7716128","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":526668405,"identity":"84e35756-f34e-4ccd-8395-f3f82e300aa3","order_by":0,"name":"Changbiao Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCSBmbJCAcW0gIqRoSSNaC5x7mLAW/tnNzx5+3WEhz8/AY/i54Nf5xP7ZzQcfMNTYROO05M4xc2PZMxKGMxt4jKVn9t1OnHHnWLIBw7G03AYcWgwkEsykJdskGDcc4N0gzdtzO7HhRo6ZBGPDYTxa0r+BtNgDtWz+zdtzLnE+YS05ZpIf2yQSgVq2SfP8OJC4gZAWiRs5ZdKMZySSZzbwf7PmbUg23ngjLdkgAY9f+Gekb5P8uaPOtp+BLfk2zx872Xk3kg8++FBjg1MLCDDzgEj5B8AIamNwBKtMwKMcBBh/wJl/GOwJKB4Fo2AUjIIRCACfgl0Ggms+CgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"ShangGang Group","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Changbiao","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-25 21:23:08","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7716128/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7716128/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":93179457,"identity":"cdbcab50-296b-42be-b2d4-48c154f516a3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-09 23:33:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":433090,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"snAPB1.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7716128/v1/f6a40b195fea02a489fdd538.pdf"},{"id":93179456,"identity":"af24619f-72b9-4fb3-8a46-740c14438fc2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-09 23:33:34","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":3529,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"05368d720fe74b65beac1578414075cc.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7716128/v1/0bee78765afc0dbd7bf266a2.json"},{"id":94139159,"identity":"a8076d4f-d9fd-48db-b30d-558807355ce6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-22 19:31:41","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":371224,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"snAPB1.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7716128/v1_covered_eb37422b-7ef6-4058-870b-a6b76169125b.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"First principles for analysis and confirmation of relativistic Doppler effect","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Ives-Stilwell experiment, Laser beam, Relativistic Doppler effect, Invariance of Lorentz","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7716128/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7716128/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Ives-Stilwell experiment in 1938 is a historic experiment for confirming Ein-stein’s special relativity, and various modern types have been repeated by use of laser technology. 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