Simple logical
explanation of the twin paradox
Elena Berezina
Nørrebrogade 223,
1th
2200 Copenhagen N
Denmark
1.03.2013
The denial of the
superluminal speed (and with this the backward time) has lead to the idea that
the travelling twin brother, who has made a loop in the space and come back to
Earth, will in the end turn out to be younger than his staying at home twin.
Einstein's Twin Paradox is
considered unsolved until this day. But acknowledging negative time's existence
can effectively solve this puzzle.
The human eye registers photons only
at the moment when they hit the retina. Any flash of light always occurs earlier
than it is seen, because the photons need a certain amount of time to reach the
observer. This means that photons, as well as any other object approaching the
observer, travel from "earlier to later," from the past into the
future - in the usual positive time, with its absolute values increasing.
On the contrary, photons and other
objects travelling away from the
observer seem to be moving backwards, from the future into the past, the past
getting more and more distant as they keep moving further and further away.
In
other words, by changing his direction in space, the traveller changes his
direction in time as well.
So during one of the twin brother's
round trip, the difference in clock values between the traveller and his
brother at home will duly appear and will keep increasing as the traveller
moves away from Earth. However, this difference will start to decrease on his
way back and will disappear completely at the precise moment when the two
brothers meet again.
As we can see, the logical mistake
that has resulted in the Twin Paradox seems to originate from the fact that the
vector of motion was ignored in the puzzle, with only the module of speed being
taken into consideration.
Unfortunately, backward-flowing
(from the future into the past) negative time has so far only been recognized
by a handful of researchers.
For the subluminal speeds, the time
shrinks, but it remains positive. For a light object, cause and effect is one
and the same thing, as it by acquiring the qualities of wave begin to move and
reach their target synchronously. It is as if it "multiplies" and is
therefore able to be in several places at the same time.
As for superluminal objects, they
seem to exist exclusively in negative time, always leaving behind the light
wave, with which they may initially have shared the same start line.
These objects elude visual
perception and can only be identified through indirect indications.
Works
used
Coveney,
P. and Highfield, R. (1990) The arrow of
time. W. H. Allen, London.
Hawking,
S. A. (1988) A brief history of time. Bantam
Books, New York.
Wang,
L. J., Kuzmich, A., Dogariu, A. (2000) Gain-assisted
superluminal light
Weinberg, S. The first three minutes. André
Deutsch, London.
Yin,
J., Cao, Y., Yong,H.L. et al. (2013) Bounding
the speed of 'spooky action at a distance'. ArXiv:1303.0614v1.