Einstein’s Concept of Clock Synchronization Conflicts with the Second Relativity Postulate

Abstract

<p style="margin-left:10.0pt;"> <span style="font-family:"">Einstein defined clock synchronization whenever photon pulses with time tags traverse a fixed distance between two clocks with equal time spans in either direction. Using the second relativity postulate, he found clocks mounted on a rod uniformly moving parallel with the rod’s length cannot be synchronized, but clocks attached to a stationary rod can. He dismissed this discrepancy by claiming simultaneity and clock synchronization were not common between inertial frames, but this paper proves with both Galilean and Lorentz transformations that simultaneity and clock synchronization are preserved between inertial frames. His derivation means moving clocks can never be synchronized in a “resting” inertial frame. Ultraprecise atomic clocks in timekeeping labs daily contradict his results. No algebraic error occurred in Einstein’s derivations. The </span><span>t</span><span>w</span><span>o cases of clocks attached to a rod</span><span style="font-family:""> reveal three major conflicts with the current second postulate. The net velocity between a photon source and detector plus the “universal” velocity <b><i>c</i></b> is mathematically equivalent to Einstein’s clock synchronization method. As the ultraprecise timekeeping community daily synchronizes atomic clocks on the moving Earth with ultraprecise time uncertainty well below Einstein’s lowest limit of synchronization, the theoretical resolution of the apparent conflict is accomplished by expanding the second relativity postulate to incorporate the net velocity between the photon source and detector with the emitted velocity <b><i>c</i></b> as components of the total velocity <b><i>c</i></b>. This means the magnitude of the total photon velocity can exceed the speed limit (299792458 m/s)</span><span> </span><span style="font-family:"">set by the standard velocity <b><i>c</i></b>.</span><span style="font-family:""></span> </p>