The case of the identically accelerated twins

Abstract

A variation on the ‘‘twin paradox’’ of special relativity is presented wherein twins undergo the same acceleration for the same length of time, yet they age differently. Although this problem is simple to solve, it gets to the heart of the behavior of clocks in special relativity and, hopefully, will help to dispel the notion students develop that the acceleration experienced by a relativistic traveler is directly related to the rate at which that traveler ages.