Twin paradox

Clock problem redirects here. For mathematical gether and synchronized, and then one was moved away
problems involving the positions of the hands on a clock and brought back, the clock which had undergone the
face, see Clock angle problem.
traveling would be found to be lagging behind the clock
which had stayed put.[A 4] Einstein considered this to be a
natural consequence of special relativity, not a paradox as
In physics, the twin paradox is a thought experiment in
special relativity involving identical twins, one of whom some suggested, and in 1911, he restated and elaborated
on this result as follows (with physicist Robert Resnick's
makes a journey into space in a high-speed rocket and re[A 5][5]
turns home to nd that the twin who remained on Earth comments following Einsteins):
has aged more. This result appears puzzling because each
twin sees the other twin as moving, and so, according to
an incorrect naive[1] application of time dilation and the
principle of relativity, each should paradoxically nd the
other to have aged more slowly. However, this scenario
can be resolved within the standard framework of special
relativity: the travelling twins trajectory involves two different inertial frames, one for the outbound journey and
one for the inbound journey, and so there is no symmetry
between the spacetime paths of the two twins. Therefore
the twin paradox is not a paradox in the sense of a logical
contradiction.

If we placed a living organism in

a box ... one could arrange that
the organism, after any arbitrary
lengthy ight, could be returned to
its original spot in a scarcely altered condition, while corresponding organisms which had remained
in their original positions had already long since given way to new
generations. For the moving organism, the lengthy time of the journey was a mere instant, provided
the motion took place with approximately the speed of light.

Starting with Paul Langevin in 1911, there have been various explanations of this paradox. These explanations
can be grouped into those that focus on the eect of different standards of simultaneity in dierent frames, and
those that designate the acceleration [experienced by the
travelling twin] as the main reason....[2] Max von Laue
argued in 1913 that since the traveling twin must be in two
separate inertial frames, one on the way out and another
on the way back, this frame switch is the reason for the
aging dierence, not the acceleration per se.[3] Explanations put forth by Albert Einstein and Max Born invoked
gravitational time dilation to explain the aging as a direct
eect of acceleration.[4]

If the stationary organism is a man

and the traveling one is his twin,
then the traveler returns home to
nd his twin brother much aged
compared to himself. The paradox centers around the contention
that, in relativity, either twin could
regard the other as the traveler, in
which case each should nd the
other youngera logical contradiction. This contention assumes that
the twins situations are symmetrical and interchangeable, an assumption that is not correct. Furthermore, the accessible experiments have been done and support
Einsteins prediction. ...

The twin paradox has been veried experimentally by

precise measurements of atomic clocks own in aircraft
and satellites. For example, gravitational time dilation
and special relativity together have been used to explain
the HafeleKeating experiment.[A 1][A 2] It was also conrmed in particle accelerators by measuring time dilation
of circulating particle beams.[A 3]

In 1911, Paul Langevin gave a striking example by describing

the story of a traveler making a trip at a Lorentz
1 History
factor of = 100 (99.995% the speed of light). The traveler remains in a projectile for one year of his time, and
Further information: Time dilation and twin paradox
then reverses direction. Upon return, the traveler will nd
that he has aged two years, while 200 years have passed on
In his famous work on special relativity in 1905, Albert Earth. During the trip, both the traveler and Earth keep
Einstein predicted that when two clocks were brought to- sending signals to each other at a constant rate, which
1

3 RESOLUTION OF THE PARADOX IN SPECIAL RELATIVITY

places Langevins story among the Doppler shift versions

of the twin paradox. The relativistic eects upon the signal rates are used to account for the dierent aging rates.
The asymmetry that occurred because only the traveler
underwent acceleration, is used to explain why there is
any dierence at all, because any change of velocity, or
any acceleration has an absolute meaning.[A 6]
Max von Laue (1911, 1913) elaborated on Langevins
explanation. Using Minkowskis spacetime formalism,
Laue went on to demonstrate that the world lines of the inertially moving bodies maximize the proper time elapsed
between two events. He also wrote that the asymmetric aging is completely accounted for by the fact that the
astronaut twin travels in two separate frames, while the
Earth twin remains in one frame, and the time of acceleration can be made arbitrarily small compared with
the time of inertial motion.[A 7][A 8][A 9] Eventually, Lord
Halsbury and others removed any acceleration by introducing the three-brother approach. The traveling twin
transfers his clock reading to a third one, traveling in the
opposite direction. Another way of avoiding acceleration
eects is the use of the relativistic Doppler eect (see
What it looks like: the relativistic Doppler shift below).
Neither Einstein nor Langevin considered such results to
be literally paradoxical: Einstein only called it peculiar
while Langevin presented it as a consequence of absolute acceleration.[A 10] A paradox in logical and scientic usage refers to results which are inherently contradictory (that is, logically impossible), and both men argued that, from the time dierential illustrated by the
story of the twins, no self-contradiction could be constructed. In other words, neither Einstein nor Langevin
saw the story of the twins as constituting a challenge to
the self-consistency of relativistic physics.

Specic example

The ships crew members also calculate the particulars of

their trip from their perspective. They know that the distant star system and the Earth are moving relative to the
ship at speed v during the trip. In their rest frame the
distance between the Earth and the star system is d =
0.6d = 2.4 light years (length contraction), for both the
outward and return journeys. Each half of the journey
takes 2.4/v = 3 years, and the round trip takes 2 3 = 6
years. Their calculations show that they will arrive home
having aged 6 years. The travelers nal calculation is
in complete agreement with the calculations of those on
Earth, though they experience the trip quite dierently
from those who stay at home.
If twins are born on the day the ship leaves, and one goes
on the journey while the other stays on Earth, they will
meet again when the traveler is 6 years old and the stayat-home twin is 10 years old. The calculation illustrates
the usage of the phenomenon of length contraction and
the experimentally veried phenomenon of time dilation
to describe and calculate consequences and predictions of
Einsteins special theory of relativity.

3 Resolution of the paradox in special relativity

The paradoxical aspect of the twins situation arises from
the fact that at any given moment the travelling twins
clock is running slow in the earthbound twins inertial
frame, but equally the earthbound twins clock is running
slow in the travelling twins inertial frame.[8][9][10] The
resolution is that the earthbound twin is in the same inertial frame throughout the journey, but the travelling twin
is not: in the simplest version of the thought-experiment
the travelling twin switches at the midpoint of the trip
from being at rest in an inertial frame with velocity in one
direction (away from the earth) to being at rest in an inertial frame with velocity in the opposite direction (towards
the earth).

Consider a space ship traveling from Earth to the nearest

star system: a distance d = 4 light years away, at a speed
v = 0.8c (i.e., 80 percent of the speed of light).
3.1 Role of acceleration
(To make the numbers easy, the ship is assumed to attain its full speed immediately upon departureactually Although some texts assign a crucial role to the acit would take close to a year accelerating at 1 g to get up celeration of the travelling twin at the time of the
turnaround,[8][9][10][11] others note that the eect also
to speed.)
arises if one imagines separate outward-going and
The parties will observe the situation as follows:[6][7]
inward-coming travellers, who pass each other and synThe Earth-based mission control reasons about the jour- chronize their clocks at the point corresponding to
ney this way: the round trip will take t = 2d/v = 10 years in turnaround of a single traveller. In this version, accelerEarth time (i.e. everybody on Earth will be 10 years older ation plays no direct role;[12][13][14] the issue is how long
when the ship returns). The amount of time as measured the world-lines are, not how bent.[15] The length referred
on the ships clocks and the aging of the travelers during to here is the Lorentz-invariant length or proper time in
their trip will be reduced by the factor = 1v2 /c2 , the terval of a trajectory which corresponds to the elapsed
reciprocal of the Lorentz factor. In this case = 0.6 and time measured by a clock following that trajectory (see
the travelers will have aged only 0.6 10 = 6 years when Section Dierence in elapsed time as a result of dierences in twins spacetime paths below). In Minkowski
they return.

3
spacetime, the travelling twin must feel a dierent history twin.[8][9][13][16][17]
of accelerations from the earthbound twin, even if this
just means accelerations of the same size separated by
dierent amounts of time,[15] however even this role for
acceleration can be eliminated in formulations of the twin 4 A non space-time approach
paradox in curved spacetime, where the twins can fall
freely along space-time geodesics between meetings.[2]
As mentioned above, an out and back twin paradox
adventure may incorporate the transfer of clock reading
from an outgoing astronaut to an incoming astronaut,
3.2 Relativity of simultaneity
thus entirely eliminating the eect of acceleration. Acceleration is not involved in any kinematical eects of
special relativity. The time dierential between two reunited clocks is deduced through purely uniform linear
motion considerations, as seen in Einsteins original paper
traveling twin
on the subject,[12] as well as in all subsequent derivations
of the Lorentz transformations.
stationary
twin

simultaneity
planes (ret. trip)
simultaneity
planes (trip out)

Minkowski diagram of the twin paradox. There is a dierence

between the trajectories of the two twins: the trajectory of the ship
is equally divided between two dierent inertial frames, while the
Earth-based twin stays in the same inertial frame.

For a moment-by-moment understanding of how the time

dierence between the two twins unfolds, one must understand that in special relativity there is no concept
of absolute present. For dierent inertial frames there
are dierent sets of events that are simultaneous in that
frame. This relativity of simultaneity means that switching from one inertial frame to another requires an adjustment in what slice through spacetime counts as the
present. In the spacetime diagram on the right, drawn
for the reference frame of the Earth-based twin, that
twins world line coincides with the vertical axis (his position is constant in space, moving only in time). On the
rst leg of the trip, the second twin moves to the right
(black sloped line); and on the second leg, back to the
left. Blue lines show the planes of simultaneity for the
traveling twin during the rst leg of the journey; red lines,
during the second leg. Just before turnaround, the traveling twin calculates the age of the Earth-based twin by
measuring the interval along the vertical axis from the origin to the upper blue line. Just after turnaround, if he
recalculates, he will measure the interval from the origin to the lower red line. In a sense, during the U-turn
the plane of simultaneity jumps from blue to red and
very quickly sweeps over a large segment of the world
line of the Earth-based twin. When one transfers from
the outgoing inertial frame to the incoming inertial frame
there is a jump discontinuity in the age of the Earth-based

Because spacetime diagrams incorporate Einsteins clock

synchronization (with its lattice of clocks methodology),
there will be a requisite jump in time in the calculation made by a suddenly returning astronaut who inherits a new meaning of simultaneity in keeping with
a new clock synchronization dictated by the reversal of
motion as explained in Spacetime Physics by John A.
Wheeler.[16]
If, instead of incorporating Einsteins clock synchronization (lattice of clocks), the astronaut (outgoing and incoming) and the Earth-based party regularly update each
other on the status of their clocks by way of sending radio signals (which travel at light speed), then all parties
will note an incremental buildup of asymmetry in timekeeping, beginning at the turn around point. Prior to
the turn around, each party regards the other partys
clock to be recording time dierently from his own, but
the noted dierence is symmetrical between the two parties. After the turn around, the noted dierences are
not symmetrical, and the asymmetry grows incrementally
until the two parties are reunited. Upon nally reuniting,
this asymmetry can be seen in the actual dierence showing on the two reunited clocks.[18]

5 The equivalence of biological aging and clock time-keeping

It would probably be prudent to mention: All processes
chemical, biological, measuring apparatus functioning,
human perception involving the eye and brain, the communication of forceeverything, is constrained by the
speed of light. There is clock functioning at every level,
dependent on light speed and the inherent delay at even
the atomic level. Thus, we speak of the twin paradox, involving biological aging. It is in no way dierent from clock time-keeping. Biological aging is equated
to clock time-keeping by John A. Wheeler in Spacetime
Physics.[19]

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE: THE RELATIVISTIC DOPPLER SHIFT

What it looks like: the relativistic

Doppler shift

In view of the frame-dependence of simultaneity for

events at dierent locations in space, some treatments
prefer a more phenomenological approach, describing
what the twins would observe if each sent out a series
of regular radio pulses, equally spaced in time according
to the emitters clock.[13] This is equivalent to asking, if
each twin sent a video feed of themselves to each other,
what do they see in their screens? Or, if each twin always
carried a clock indicating his age, what time would each
see in the image of their distant twin and his clock?

fobs = frest

(1 + v/c) / (1 v/c)

This is f = 3f for v/c = 0.8.

As for the screen on Earth, it shows that trip back beginning 9 years after launch, and the traveling clock in the
screen shows that 3 years have passed on the ship. One
year later, the ship is back home and the clock shows 6
years. So, during the trip back, both twins see their siblings clock going 3 times faster than their own. Factoring
out the fact that the light-time-delay is decreasing by 0.8
seconds every second, each twin calculates that the other
twin is aging at 60% his own aging speed.

Shortly after departure, the traveling twin sees the stayat-home twin with no time delay. At arrival, the image in
the ship screen shows the staying twin as he was 1 year after launch, because radio emitted from Earth 1 year after
launch gets to the other star 4 years afterwards and meets
the ship there. During this leg of the trip, the traveling
twin sees his own clock advance 3 years and the clock in
the screen advance 1 year, so it seems to advance at 1 3
the normal rate, just 20 image seconds per ship minute.
This combines the eects of time dilation due to motion
(by factor =0.6, ve years on earth are 3 years on ship)
and the eect of increasing light-time-delay (which grows
from 0 to 4 years).
Of course, the observed frequency of the transmission is
also 1 3 the frequency of the transmitter (a reduction in
frequency; red-shifted). This is called the relativistic
Doppler eect. The frequency of clock-ticks (or of wave- Light paths for images exchanged during trip
fronts) which one sees from a source with rest frequency Left: Earth to ship. Right: Ship to Earth.
Red lines indicate low frequency images are received
f is

Blue lines indicate high frequency images are received

fobs = frest

(1 v/c) / (1 + v/c)

The xt (spacetime) diagrams at left show the paths of

when the source is moving directly away. This is f = light signals traveling between Earth and ship (1st dia1
gram) and between ship and Earth (2nd diagram). These
3 f for v/c = 0.8.
signals carry the images of each twin and his age-clock
As for the stay-at-home twin, he gets a slowed signal from to the other twin. The vertical black line is the Earths
the ship for 9 years, at a frequency 1 3 the transmitter frepath through spacetime and the other two sides of the triquency. During these 9 years, the clock of the traveling angle show the ships path through spacetime (as in the
twin in the screen seems to advance 3 years, so both twins
Minkowski diagram above). As far as the sender is consee the image of their sibling aging at a rate only 1 3 their cerned, he transmits these at equal intervals (say, once an
own rate. Expressed in other way, they would both see the hour) according to his own clock; but according to the
others clock run at 1 3 their own clock speed. If they fac- clock of the twin receiving these signals, they are not betor out of the calculation the fact that the light-time delay ing received at equal intervals.
of the transmission is increasing at a rate of 0.8 seconds
per second, both can work out that the other twin is aging After the ship has reached its cruising speed of 0.8c, each
twin would see 1 second pass in the received image of
slower, at 60% rate.
the other twin for every 3 seconds of his own time. That
Then the ship turns back toward home. The clock of the is, each would see the image of the others clock going
staying twin shows 1 year after launch in the screen of slow, not just slow by the factor 0.6, but even slower bethe ship, and during the 3 years of the trip back it in- cause light-time-delay is increasing 0.8 seconds per seccreases up to 10 years after launch, so the clock in the ond. This is shown in the gures by red light paths. At
screen seems to be advancing 3 times faster than usual.
some point, the images received by each twin change so
When the source is moving towards the observer, the ob- that each would see 3 seconds pass in the image for every
served frequency is higher (blue-shifted) and given by second of his own time. That is, the received signal has

7.2

Simultaneity in the Doppler shift calculation

been increased in frequency by the Doppler shift. These

high frequency images are shown in the gures by blue
light paths.

6.1

then), he has to determine how far away his twin

was when the signal was emittedin other words,
he has to consider simultaneity for a distant event.
If he wants to calculate how fast his twin was aging
when the image was transmitted, he adjusts for the
Doppler shift. For example, when he receives high
frequency images (showing his twin aging rapidly)

with frequency frest (1+v/c)/(1v/c) , he does not

conclude that the twin was aging that rapidly when
the image was generated, any more than he concludes that the siren of an ambulance is emitting the
frequency he hears. He knows that the Doppler effect has increased the image frequency by the factor
1 / (1 v/c). Therefore he calculates that his twin
was aging at the rate of

The asymmetry in the Doppler shifted

images

The asymmetry between the Earth and the space ship is

manifested in this diagram by the fact that more blueshifted (fast aging) images are received by the ship. Put
another way, the space ship sees the image change from a
red-shift (slower aging of the image) to a blue-shift (faster
aging of the image) at the midpoint of its trip (at the
turnaround, 5 years after departure); the Earth sees the
image of the ship change from red-shift to blue shift after 9 years (almost at the end of the period that the ship
is absent). In the next section, one will see another asymmetry in the images: the Earth twin sees the ship twin age
by the same amount in the red and blue shifted images;
the ship twin sees the Earth twin age by dierent amounts
in the red and blue shifted images.

frest

(1 + v/c) / (1 v/c)(1 v/c) = frest 1 v 2 /c2 frest

when the image was emitted. A similar calculation reveals

that his twin was aging at the same reduced rate of f
in all low frequency images.

Calculation of elapsed time from 7.2 Simultaneity in the Doppler shift calculation
the Doppler diagram

The twin on the ship sees low frequency (red) images for
3 years. During that time, he would see the Earth twin in
the image grow older by 3/3 = 1 years. He then sees high
frequency (blue) images during the back trip of 3 years.
During that time, he would see the Earth twin in the image grow older by 3 3 = 9 years. When the journey is
nished, the image of the Earth twin has aged by 1 + 9 =
10 years.
The Earth twin sees 9 years of slow (red) images of the
ship twin, during which the ship twin ages (in the image)
by 9/3 = 3 years. He then sees fast (blue) images for the
remaining 1 year until the ship returns. In the fast images,
the ship twin ages by 1 3 = 3 years. The total aging of
the ship twin in the images received by Earth is 3 + 3
= 6 years, so the ship twin returns younger (6 years as
opposed to 10 years on Earth).

7.1

It may be dicult to see where simultaneity came into the

Doppler shift calculation, and indeed the calculation is often preferred because one does not have to worry about
simultaneity. As seen above, the ship twin can convert his
received Doppler-shifted rate to a slower rate of the clock
of the distant clock for both red and blue images. If he ignores simultaneity, he might say his twin was aging at the
reduced rate throughout the journey and therefore should
be younger than he is. He is now back to square one, and
has to take into account the change in his notion of simultaneity at the turnaround. The rate he can calculate
for the image (corrected for Doppler eect) is the rate of
the Earth twins clock at the moment it was sent, not at
the moment it was received. Since he receives an unequal
number of red and blue shifted images, he should realize
that the red and blue shifted emissions were not emitted
over equal time periods for the Earth twin, and therefore
he must account for simultaneity at a distance.

The distinction between what they see

8
and what they calculate

To avoid confusion, note the distinction between what

each twin sees and what each would calculate. Each sees
an image of his twin which he knows originated at a previous time and which he knows is Doppler shifted. He
does not take the elapsed time in the image as the age of
his twin now.

Viewpoint of the traveling twin

During the turnaround, the traveling twin is in an

accelerated reference frame.
According to the
equivalence principle, the traveling twin may analyze the turnaround phase as if the stay-at-home twin
were freely falling in a gravitational eld and as if the
traveling twin were stationary. A 1918 paper by Einstein
presents a conceptual sketch of the idea.[A 11] From the
If he wants to calculate when his twin was the age viewpoint of the traveler, a calculation for each separate
shown in the image (i.e. how old he himself was leg, ignoring the turnaround, leads to a result in which

9 DIFFERENCE IN ELAPSED TIME AS A RESULT OF DIFFERENCES IN TWINS SPACETIME PATHS

the Earth clocks age less than the traveler. For example,
by the two twins
if the Earth clocks age 1 day less on each leg, the amount
how to quantify the dierences in elapsed time
that the Earth clocks will lag behind amounts to 2 days.
The physical description of what happens at turnaround
how to calculate proper time as a function (integral)
has to produce a contrary eect of double that amount: 4
of coordinate time
days advancing of the Earth clocks. Then the travelers
clock will end up with a net 2-day delay on the Earth
Let clock K be associated with the stay at home twin.
clocks, in agreement with calculations done in the frame
Let clock K' be associated with the rocket that makes the
of the stay-at-home twin.
trip. At the departure event both clocks are set to 0.
The mechanism for the advancing of the stay-at-home
twins clock is gravitational time dilation. When an obPhase 1: Rocket (with clock K') embarks with
server nds that inertially moving objects are being acconstant proper acceleration a during a time T
celerated with respect to themselves, those objects are in
as measured by clock K until it reaches some
a gravitational eld insofar as relativity is concerned. For
velocity V.
the traveling twin at turnaround, this gravitational eld
Phase 2: Rocket keeps coasting at velocity V
lls the universe. In a weak eld approximation, clocks
during some time T according to clock K.
2
tick at a rate of t' = t (1 + / c ) where is the difPhase 3: Rocket res its engines in the opposite
ference in gravitational potential. In this case, = gh
direction of K during a time T according to
where g is the acceleration of the traveling observer durclock K until it is at rest with respect to clock K.
ing turnaround and h is the distance to the stay-at-home
The constant proper acceleration has the value
twin. The rocket is ring towards the stay-at-home twin,
a, in other words the rocket is decelerating.
thereby placing that twin at a higher gravitational potential. Due to the large distance between the twins, the stayPhase 4: Rocket keeps ring its engines in the
at-home twins clocks will appear to be sped up enough to
opposite direction of K, during the same time
account for the dierence in proper times experienced by
T according to clock K, until K' regains the
the twins. It is no accident that this speed-up is enough to
same speed V with respect to K, but now toaccount for the simultaneity shift described above. The
wards K (with velocity V).
general relativity solution for a static homogeneous gravPhase 5: Rocket keeps coasting towards K at
itational eld and the special relativity solution for nite
speed V during the same time T according to
[20]
acceleration produce identical results.
clock K.
Other calculations have been done for the traveling twin
Phase 6: Rocket again res its engines in the
(or for any observer who sometimes accelerates), which
direction of K, so it decelerates with a constant
do not involve the equivalence principle, and which do
proper acceleration a during a time T, still acnot involve any gravitational elds. Such calculations are
cording to clock K, until both clocks reunite.
based only on the special theory, not the general theory,
of relativity. One approach calculates surfaces of simultaneity by considering light pulses, in accordance with Knowing that the clock K remains inertial (stationary),
Hermann Bondi's idea of the k-calculus.[21] A second ap- the total accumulated proper time of clock K' will be
proach calculates a straightforward but technically com- given by the integral function of coordinate time t
plicated integral to determine how the traveling twin mea
sures the elapsed time on the stay-at-home clock. An outline of this second approach is given in a separate section =
1 (v(t)/c)2 dt
below.
where v(t) is the coordinate velocity of clock K' as a function of t according to clock K, and, e.g. during phase 1,
9 Dierence in elapsed time as a given by

result of dierences in twins

spacetime paths
The following paragraph shows several things:

at
v(t) =
( )2 .
1 + at
c
This integral can be calculated for the 6 phases:[22]

how to employ a precise mathematical approach in

calculating the dierences in the elapsed time
:
how to prove exactly the dependency of the elapsed
time on the dierent paths taken through spacetime :

c/a arsinh(a Ta /c)

Tc 1 V 2 /c2

c/a arsinh(a Ta /c)

:
:

c/a arsinh(a Ta /c)

Tc 1 V 2 /c2

c/a arsinh(a Ta /c)

where a() is the proper acceleration of the non-inertial

observer K' as measured by himself (for instance with
an accelerometer) during the whole round-trip. The
CauchySchwarz inequality can be used to show that the
inequality t > follows from the previous expression:

where a is the proper acceleration, felt by clock K' during

the acceleration phase(s) and where the following relations hold between V, a and T:

t =

e
[

V = a Ta / 1 + (a Ta /c)2

a Ta = V / 1 V 2 /c2

a( )d

] [
d

a( )d

a( ) d

1 V 2 /c2 + 4c/a arsinh(a Ta /c)

>

So the traveling clock K' will show an elapsed time of

= 2Tc

[
2

]
a( )d

]2
d

Using the Dirac delta function to model the innite acceleration phase in the standard case of the traveller having
constant speed v during the outbound and the inbound
trip, the formula produces the known result:

which can be expressed as

= 2Tc / 1 + (a Ta /c)2 + 4c/a arsinh(a Ta /c)

whereas the stationary clock K shows an elapsed time of

t = 2Tc + 4Ta
which is, for every possible value of a, T, T and V, larger
than the reading of clock K':

1
t =
1

v2
c2

In the case where the accelerated observer K' departs

from K with zero initial velocity, the general equation reduces to the simpler form:

t =

a( )d

d
,

t >

10

Dierence in elapsed times:

how to calculate it from the ship

which, in the smooth version of the twin paradox where

the traveller has constant proper acceleration phases, successively given by a, a, a, a, results in[14]

t =
In the standard proper time formula

(
1

=
0

v(t)
c

)2
dt,

represents the time of the non-inertial (travelling) observer K' as a function of the elapsed time t of the inertial (stay-at-home) observer K for whom observer K' has
velocity v(t) at time t.

4
a

sinh( a4 )

where the convention c = 1 is used, in accordance with

the above expression with acceleration phases T = t/4
and inertial (coasting) phases T = 0.

11 A rotational version

Twins Bob and Alice inhabit a space station in circular orbit around a massive body in space. Bob departs the station and uses a rocket to hover in the xed position where
he left Alice, while she stays in the station. When the
station completes an orbit and returns to Bob, he rejoins
Alice. Alice is now younger than Bob.[23] In addition to
[
] [
] rotational acceleration, Bob must decelerate to become

2
a(
)d

a(
)d
t =
e0
d

e 0
d
, stationary and then accelerate again to match the orbital
speed of the space station.
0
0

To calculate the elapsed time t of the inertial observer

K as a function of the elapsed time of the non-inertial
observer K', where only quantities measured by K' are
accessible, the following formula can be used:[14]

]2
= 2 .

15

12

SECONDARY SOURCES

Explanation in terms of Machs

principle

[5] Einstein, Albert (1911). Die Relativitts-Theorie.

Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Zrich, Vierteljahresschrift
56: 114.

A minority of physicists also favor some version of

Machs principle, which would imply that the dierence
between accelerated motion and inertial motion can only
be dened relative to the rest of the matter in the universe, often referred to as motion relative to the xed
stars. For example, A.P. French writes, regarding the
twin paradox: Note, though, that we are appealing to the
reality of As acceleration, and to the observability of the
inertial forces associated with it. Would such eects as
the twin paradox exist if the framework of xed stars and
distant galaxies were not there? Most physicists would
say no. Our ultimate denition of an inertial frame may
indeed be that it is a frame having zero acceleration with
respect to the matter of the universe at large.[24]

[6] Langevin, P. (1911), The evolution of space and time,

Scientia X: 3154 (translated by J. B. Sykes, 1973).

13

See also

Bells spaceship paradox

Clock hypothesis

[7] von Laue, Max (1911). Zwei Einwnde gegen die Relativittstheorie und ihre Widerlegung (Two Objections
Against the Theory of Relativity and their Refutation)".
Physikalische Zeitschrift 13: 118120.
[8] von Laue, Max (1913). Das Relativittsprinzip (The Principle of Relativity) (2 ed.). Braunschweig, Germany:
Friedrich Vieweg. OCLC 298055497.
[9] von Laue, Max (1913). Das Relativittsprinzip (The
Principle of Relativity)". Jahrbcher der Philosophie 1:
99128.
[10] We are going to see this absolute character of the acceleration manifest itself in another form. (Nous allons voir
se manifester sous une autre forme ce caractre absolu de
l'acclration.), page 82 of Langevin1911
[11] Einstein, A. (1918) "dialog about objections against the
theory of relativity", Die Naturwissenschaften 48, pp.
697702, 29 November 1918

Ehrenfest paradox
Herbert Dingle
Ladder paradox
Supplees paradox
Time dilation
Time for the Stars

14

Primary sources

[1] Hafele, J. C.; Keating, R. E. (July 14, 1972).

Around-the-World
Atomic
Clocks:
Predicted Relativistic Time Gains.
Science 177
(4044):
166168.
Bibcode:1972Sci...177..166H.
doi:10.1126/science.177.4044.166. PMID 17779917.
[2] Hafele, J. C.; Keating, R. E. (July 14, 1972).
Around-the-World
Atomic
Clocks:
Observed Relativistic Time Gains.
Science 177
Bibcode:1972Sci...177..168H.
(4044):
168170.
doi:10.1126/science.177.4044.168. PMID 17779918.
[3] Bailey, H. et al. (1977). Measurements of relativistic time dilatation for positive and negative muons
in a circular orbit. Nature 268 (5618): 301305.
Bibcode:1977Natur.268..301B. doi:10.1038/268301a0.
[4] Einstein, Albert (1905).
On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.
Annalen der Physik
Bibcode:1905AnP...322..891E.
17 (10):
891.
doi:10.1002/andp.19053221004.

15 Secondary sources
[1] D'Auria, Riccardo; Trigiante, Mario (2011). From Special
Relativity to Feynman Diagrams: A Course of Theoretical
Particle Physics for Beginners (illustrated ed.). Springer
Science & Business Media. p. 541. ISBN 978-88-4701504-3., Extract of page 541
[2] Debs, Talal A.; Redhead, Michael L.G. (1996). The
twin paradox and the conventionality of simultaneity. American Journal of Physics 64 (4): 384392.
Bibcode:1996AmJPh..64..384D. doi:10.1119/1.18252.
[3] Miller, Arthur I. (1981). Albert Einsteins special theory
of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation
(19051911). Reading: AddisonWesley. pp. 257264.
ISBN 0-201-04679-2.
[4] Max Jammer (2006). Concepts of Simultaneity: From Antiquity to Einstein and Beyond. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 165. ISBN 0-8018-8422-5.
[5] Resnick, Robert (1968). Supplementary Topic B: The
Twin Paradox. Introduction to Special Relativity. place:
New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 201. ISBN 0-47171725-8. LCCN 67031211.. via August Kop, Hyman
Levy (translator), The Mathematical Theory of Relativity
(London: Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1923), p. 52, as quoted
by G.J. Whitrow, The Natural Philosophy of Time (New
York: Harper Torchbooks, 1961), p. 215.
[6] Jain, Mahesh C. (2009). Textbook Of Engineering Physics,
Part I. PHI Learning Pvt. p. 74. ISBN 8120338626.,
Extract of page 74

[7] Sardesai, P. L. (2004). Introduction to Relativity. New

Age International. pp. 2728. ISBN 8122415202.,
Extract of page 27

16 Further reading
The ideal clock

[8] Ohanian, Hans (2001). Special relativity: a modern introduction. Lakeville, MN: Physics Curriculum and Instruction. ISBN 0971313415.

The ideal clock is a clock whose action depends only on

its instantaneous velocity, and is independent of any ac[9] Harris, Randy (2008). Modern Physics. San Francisco, celeration of the clock. Wolfgang Rindler (2006). Time
dilation. Relativity: Special, General, and Cosmological.
CA: Pearson Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0805303081.
Oxford University Press. p. 43. ISBN 0-19-856731-6.

[10] Rindler, W (2006). Introduction to special relativity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN
9780198567318.
[11] Weidner, Richard (1985). Physics. Needham Heights,
MA: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 0205111556.

Gravitational time dilation; time dilation in circular

motion

[12] Einstein, A., Lorentz, H.A., Minkowski, H., and Weyl, H.

(1923). Arnold Sommerfeld. ed. The Principle of Relativity. Dover Publications: Mineola, NY. pp. 3849.

John A Peacock (2001). Cosmological Physics.

Cambridge University Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-52142270-1.

[13] Kogut, John (2000). Introduction to Relativity. Burlington, MA: Harcourt Academic Press. p. 35. ISBN
0124175619.

Silvio Bonometto, Vittorio Gorini, Ugo Moschella

(2002). Modern Cosmology. CRC Press. p. 12.
ISBN 0-7503-0810-9.

[14] E. Minguzzi (2005) - Dierential aging from acceleration: An explicit formula - Am. J. Phys. 73: 876-880
arXiv:physics/0411233 (Notation of source variables was
adapted to match this articles.)

Patrick Cornille (2003). Advanced Electromagnetism and Vacuum Physics. World Scientic. p.
180. ISBN 981-238-367-0.

[15] Maudlin, Tim (2012). Philosophy of physics : space and

time. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 7783.
ISBN 9780691143095.

17 External links

[16] Wheeler, J., Taylor, E. (1992). Spacetime Physics, second

edition. W. H. Freeman: New York, pp. 38, 170-171.

Twin Paradox overview in the Usenet Physics FAQ

[17] Einstein, A., Lorentz, H.A., Minkowski, H., and Weyl, H.

(1923). Arnold Sommerfeld. ed. The Principle of Relativity. Dover Publications: Mineola, NY. p. 38.

The twin paradox: Is the symmetry of time dilation

paradoxical? From Einsteinlight: Relativity in animations and lm clips.

[18] William Geraint Vaughan Rosser (1991). Introductory

Special Relativity, Taylor & Francis Inc. USA, pp. 6768.

FLASH Animations: from John de Pillis. (Scene 1):

View from the Earth twins point of view. (Scene
2): View from the traveling twins point of view.

[19] Wheeler, J., Taylor, E. (1992). Spacetime Physics, second

edition. W.H. Freeman: New York, p. 150.

Relativity Science Calculator - Twin Clock Paradox

[20] Jones, Preston; Wanex, L.F. (February 2006). The

clock paradox in a static homogeneous gravitational
eld. Foundations of Physics Letters 19 (1): 7585.
arXiv:physics/0604025. Bibcode:2006FoPhL..19...75J.
doi:10.1007/s10702-006-1850-3.
[21] Dolby, Carl E. and Gull, Stephen F (2001). On
Radar Time and the Twin 'Paradox'".
American
Journal of Physics 69 (12): 12571261. arXiv:grBibcode:2001AmJPh..69.1257D.
qc/0104077.
doi:10.1119/1.1407254.
[22] C. Lagoute and E. Davoust (1995) The interstellar traveler, Am. J. Phys. 63:221-227
[23] Michael Paul Hobson, George Efstathiou, Anthony N.
Lasenby (2006). General Relativity: An Introduction for
Physicists. Cambridge University Press. p. 227. ISBN
0-521-82951-8. See exercise 9.25 on page 227.
[24] French, A.P. (1968). Special relativity. W.W. Norton,
New York. p. 156. ISBN 0-393-09804-4.

10

18

18
18.1

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