Nonlocal or Possibly Superluminal Maxwell Displacement Current Observed in the Near-Field of a Spherical Capacitor

A novel experiment has been conducted with a high confidence level of 80%, which confirms for the first time the prediction made by Maxwell's theory. The experiment demonstrated that the near-field displacement current existing between the 1.5 m separated two poles of an air dielectric capacitor is nonlocal in nature, implying instantaneous action at a distance between the two poles. However, we observed signaling and transfer of information in this case, which suggests the possibility of superluminal signaling. Nevertheless, we could not measure any finite signal propagation speed, indicating that the speed may be many times greater than the light speed. These findings are important because, for the first time, it was identified that in the special case of near-field EM signal propagation between the poles of an air dielectric capacitor, the displacement current field of the capacitor behaves as a nonlocal macroscopic effect. However, the non-communication theorem does not apply in this case, and we have clearly demonstrated signaling and transfer of information in the near-field. Based on these findings, any delay in the charging or discharging of an air parallel poles capacitor, along with the corresponding signal propagation delay, is solely due to its conduction electron current and not its displacement current. Furthermore, it appears that the signal propagates instantaneously or possibly at superluminal speeds within the inner air space between the capacitor's poles.