Anisotropy of Inertia from the CMB Anisotropy

Mach’s principle states that the local inertial properies of matter are determined by the global matter distribution in the universe. In 1958 Cocconi and Salpeter suggested that due to the quadrupolar assymetry of matter in the local galaxy about the earth, inertia on earth would be slightly anisotropic, leading to unequal level splittings of nuclei in a magnetic field [1,2]. Hughes, et al., Drever, and more recently Prestage, et al. found no such quadrupole splitting [3–5]. However, recent cosmological overservations show an anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background, indicating anisotropy of the matter at much greater distances. Since the inertial interaction acts as a power law of order unity, the effect of this matter would far outweigh the relatively local contribution from the galaxy [1,6]. Thus, the present article extends the work of Cocconi and Salpeter to higher multipoles leading to unequal level splittings that should be measurable by magnetic resonance experiments on nuclei of appropriate spin.