Twin Paradox
Saturday, January 22, 2022
The Setup
Say there are two observers: Observer , who stays on Earth, and Observer , who flies at a high velocity to a local star (several lightyears away), turns around, and returns to Earth.
Since each perceives the other moving with respect to themself, they will claim the other's time is passing slower (time dilation).
When observer returns to Earth, who would be younger? Observer would claim is younger since observer moved with respect to Earth, whereas would claim is younger since the Earth moved with respect to 's rocket.
The Solution
Why the setup does not make sense
The twin paradox is not actually a paradox. The issue lies in how the situation is framed. It is not possible for observer to remain in an inertial reference frame for the entire journey since they must, at some point, turn around and come back to Earth. Therefore, at some point they accelerated and the laws of physics no longer applied the same.
Who would actually be younger?
Observer would be younger upon returning to Earth, since they accelerate when they turn around and return to Earth. This is different than observer , who was in an inertial reference frame for the entire time.