Mansouri-Sexl Test Theory: The Question of Equivalence between Special Relativity and Ether Theories (Letters to Progress in Physics)

The goal of this paper is drawing attention to a mistake confusing discussion upon the alternatives to special theory of relativity (STR). In the Mansouri-Sexl test theory uti- lized as a mathematical framework for testing the preferred frame theories, the Lorentz transformation of time has an erroneous form. This generate s a false conclusion, namely that a theory based on Tangherlini transformation is empirically equivalent to STR