SEARCH FOR THE ANISOTROPY OF INERTIA USING THE MOSSBAUER EFFECT IN Fe$sup 5$$sup 7$

The width of the central resonance absorption line in the Mossbauer effect in Fe/sup 57/ being wider than the natural linewidth suggests that an external perturbation exists which affects the nuclear levels. Accordingly, experiments were carried out to detect whether anisotropy in inertia (due to nonuniform distribution of matter in the galaxy) may be responsible for the line broadening. The linewidth was measured for a Fe/sup 57/ source and a Fe absorber with (1) no magnetic field present and (2) both source and absorber parallel to magnetic fields of about 10/sup 3/ gauss; no difference was found. Next, the amplitudes of the center of the line and of four Doppler-shifted points on the side of the line were measured with 600-gauss magnetic fields oriented at +45 deg and --45 deg in the vertical (north-south) plane at different times so that the galactic center exerts its maximum and minimum effects on the level shift, The amplitudes were found to be constant within the statistical limits, which give a result of DELTA M/M (fraction of inertia change) of (5 x 10/sup -16/ (D.L.C.)