Towards a New Physics of Space: Experimental Test via Asymmetric Ion Collisions

Special Relativity (SR), founded on the postulate of the invariance of the speed of light, rejects the existence of an absolute reference frame. This work proposes to test an alternative paradigm where Space is a substantial physical medium, light is a vibration of this medium, and matter is constituted of standing waves within it. This model is empirically equivalent to SR for a wide class of phenomena but predicts a fundamental difference: kinetic energy is a physical deformation of the wave structure of matter, stored relative to the absolute medium. We propose a crucial experiment to test this difference: measuring the asymmetry between collisions of an accelerated H+ ion with a stationary H+ ion, and the reverse scenario. SR predicts perfect symmetry, whereas our paradigm predicts a measurable asymmetry if the internal binding energy is affected by the absolute velocity. The detection of such asymmetry would invalidate the relativity postulate concerning the absence of a medium, validate the existence of a spatial medium, and open the way to an unexplored field of research on the manipulation of the physical properties of Space, with major potential technological implications. Nevertheless, this model does not advocate for the rejection of SR, as it remains perfectly suitable for the use of relative velocities, the only ones we are able to utilize.