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Physical causes of the Twins Paradox of special relativity theory
Let identical clocks, B and C, and identical twins, B and C, be
located at the origin of an inertial reference frame B. Clock C and twin C are inside a
spaceship C. According to Eq. (3) and experimental evidence, a round trip by spaceship C
to some distant point in B will result in clock C advancing less than clock B and twin C aging
less than twin B. To many, this seemed paradoxical because while spaceship C is moving
relative to B, B is also moving relative to C, and according to Eq. (3) observers in C
should observe that clock B runs slow relative to clock C.
In the quantum medium view, the round trip of spaceship C causes
a reduction in the total number of wave/particle quanta of energy exchanged in every physical
system in C, which results in a decrease in the evolution of all physical systems in C,
including clocks and people.
The following example indicates why the decrease in evolution
occurs. Let spaceship C initially be at the origin of inertial reference frame B which is
moving through the qm with a velocity of va=.5 ca in the +x direction. When clock
B and clock C read 0 s, spaceship C begins moving in the +x direction with observed
velocity vCB=.5 c. (We ignore the instantaneous change in the velocity of C because,
according to special relativity theory and the quantum medium view, the difference in aging
in B and C is not due to accelerations of C.) When ship C reaches the 100 ls mark on the
x axis of B, it reverses direction and moves with observed velocity vCB=-.5 c. When
ship C arrives back at the origin of B, it stops moving relative to B.
Thus clock C made a round trip to the 100 ls mark on the x
axis of system B. In B it is observed that clock C had a speed of .5 c and traveled
200 ls in 400 s. The observers in B believe that during this 400 s travel time
clock C should run slower than clock B due to "relativistic slowing" caused by the motion of
clock C relative to B. They believe, according to Eqs. (3) and (16), that the ratio of
the rate of clock C to the rate of clock B should be
(1-.52)1/2
or .866025, and that clock C should lose (1-.866025)·400 or 53.590 s relative to the
time shown on clock B. These beliefs are confirmed by the fact that clock C actually
reads 53.590 s less than clock B.
The quantum medium view provides physical causes for this
53.590 s slowing of clock C. During the trip of clock C toward the 100 ls mark on B,
clock C had an absolute velocity of vCa=.8 ca according to Eq. (15), and the physical
change ratios for C and B were rvC=.6 and rvB=.866025 per Eq. (8). Thus the 100 ls
mark was 86.6025 LS from the origin of B, and it took ship C 288.675 sa to move this
distance because it was moving with real relative velocity vCBa=(.8-.5)=.3 ca. During this
288.675 sa, clock B advanced 250.000 s, and clock C advanced 173.205 s. Thus
clock C lost 76.795 s to clock B during the first half of the trip.
During the second half of the trip, clock C had an absolute
velocity of 0 ca and a physical change ratio of 1. Because ship C was at rest in the qm,
the virtual relative velocity (vCB=-.5 c) was the same as the real absolute relative
velocity (vCBa=-.5 ca). Therefore, the absolute time for ship C to make the
86.6025 LS return trip was 173.205 sa. During this 173.205 sa, clock C advanced
173.205 s and clock B advanced 173.205·.866025 or 150.000 s. Thus, during the return
trip, clock C was really running faster than clock B and gained 23.205 s on
clock B. Clock C's 76.795 s loss and 23.205 s gain relative to clock B resulted in
the observed net loss of 53.590 s.
In spaceship C the units of time and distance change three times
due to the three changes in velocity during the trip. These changes in units of time and
distance cause strange observations in C. Nevertheless, the observed 346.410 s on clock
C at the end of the round trip would make sense to the observers in C in view of the strange
observations.
For many years the Twins Paradox has been the subject of debate
because relativity theory does not explain why a round trip results in less aging of a body.
The reader may be interested in one of the ways the Twins Paradox is
explained within the context of the relativity theory paradigm.
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