The Myth of the Twin Paradox

Abstract

One of the most discussed peculiarities of Einstein's theory of relativity is the twin paradox, the fact that the time between two events in space-time appears to depend on the path between these events. We show that this time discrepancy results only from faulty assumptions in the transition from one reference system to another. The twin paradox does not exist. But the Lorentz invariance of the theory has strong consequences, if we assume that it is valid not only locally, but also on cosmic scale.