Lorentz-FitzGerald Contraction as the Unique Closure Condition for Moving Spherical-Harmonic Cavities

Abstract: We prove that the Lorentz--FitzGerald contraction is the unique deformation of a resonant cavity moving through a mechanical wave medium that preserves spherical-harmonic phase closure. For a cavity moving at speed $v = βc$ through a medium supporting nondispersive wave propagation at speed $c$, the round-trip phase of an internal ray at angle $θ$ to the motion depends on the boundary radius $r(θ)$ according to $Φ(θ) = 2k\,r(θ)\sqrt{1-β^2\sin^2θ}/(1-β^2)$. Requiring $Φ(θ)$ to be independent of $θ$ -- the necessary condition for retaining a spherical-harmonic eigenstructure -- uniquely fixes the Lorentzian aspect ratio [ \frac{a_\parallel}{a_\perp} = \frac{1}γ = \sqrt{1-β^2}. ] Substituting this unique boundary into the round-trip time yields the resonant period dilation $T = γT_0$, without additional assumptions. Both results -- contraction and dilation -- follow from a single mechanical constraint: preservation of eigenstructure under motion. This is the missing uniqueness theorem of the constructive relativity program initiated by FitzGerald, Lorentz, and Heaviside: the proof that Lorentzian kinematics are not merely consistent with, but uniquely required by, phase closure in a mechanical wave medium.