I've very recently started to try to understand special relativity. I'm want to get a decent understanding of the twin paradox. I'll post what I've done so far and highlight what's gone wrong for me.
The situation is that Alice and Bob both begin at point x1 in Alice's coordinate system (x,t) (we have orientated the axis so that y and z will not matter). Bob then instantaneously moves off with velocity v in the positive x direction. Bob's coordinate system is now (x′,t′)=(γ(x−vt),γ(t−vxc2)). In Alice's coordinates, Bob reaches point x2 after having moved distance d, then instantly turns around and travels back to Alice at −v. I want to show that Alice's space time interval Δs2A is greater than Bob's Δs2B, as each path's space time interval is proportional to the proper time passed along that path.
According to Alice: Δs2A=−c2Δt2+Δx2A where Δt=2dv and ΔxA=0 as she didn't move, but the time elapsed is the time it took bob to travel the distance and then come back. Thus Δs2A=−4c2d2v2
Still according to Alice, Bob's Δs2B=−c2Δt2+Δx2B, where the change in time is the same, but now bob has moved distance d twice, thus ΔxB=2d (Δx refers to total distance traveled rather than displacement which is 0 in this case). Now we have Δs2B=−4c2d2v2+4d2.
The |size| of Bob's spacetime interval now definitely smaller than Alice's, and this would be all OK, except that when I do the calculations in Bob's frame, they don't agree. This is contradictory to the fact that Δs2 is conserved under Lorentz transformations.
According to Bob: Δs′2A=−c2Δt′2+Δx′2A where Δt′=2d′v. I'm not sure if I'm right in saying that v, the relative velocity of the two frames, is the only velocity upon which both Alice and Bob will agree on, other than the speed of light. Anyway, d=γd′ as lengths contract by γ i.e. d′ is smaller than d by factor γ. Also, Δx′A=2d′, so we have Δs′2A=−4c2d′2v2+4d′2=−4c2d2γ2v2+4d2γ2=4d2v2−c2γ2v2≠Δs2A
Although I haven't included them here, my calculations for Δs′2B and Δs2B agree. Sorry for the ultra-long post, but any help would we well appreciated!
No comments:
Post a Comment