The Twin Paradox

This blog is as a result of my own attempt to understand a difficult-to-understand paradox, Twin Paradox which is an outcome of of Einstein's relativity (Any physicians around?!). Please tell me if you see anything insightful!(I have question-marked whatever I did not understand!)

Suppose we have two twin brothers, in spaceships somewhere in the intergalactic void where there is no reference point that can be called "stationary." The special theory of relativity asserts that the motion can be ascertained only when there is a reference frame (this one is okay for me!). Suppose these ships are initially hovering close to each other and that there is no relative motion. The twins-call them Jim and Joe-syncronize their watches so that they read the same date and time. What will happen if Joe speeds off to some distance place, at some high speed, and returns to Jim, who sits patiently waiting for him without using his engines during that time? According to the special theory of relativity, Jim will see Joe's time flow slow down while Joe is moving(???). Joe may not have to travel very far away from Jim at all; he might go around Jim in circles for a while, or zig-zag in Jim's vicinity, periodically checking the time. When Joe is through, we can conjecture that Joe's clock will be behind Jim's clock by a certain amount that depends on Joe's average speed and duration of this trip(is there a formula for this???). Joe will be younger than Jim by that amount when the journey is over. (This is okay for me, provided I understand the previous ?-marks!).

But who says Joe is moving and Jim is stationary. If Joe pulls away from Jim and goes a few light years into space and then comes back, is this different than Jim going away from Joe ? Relatively speaking, aren't these two models, one from Jim's point of view and the other Joe's point of view, iddentical? Then we should be able to say that Joe will se Jim's time frame as moving slower than his own, and should find that Jim's clock is behind his own when the trip is over. Now we have a paradox. Because both points are equally valid according to special theory of relativity, it follows that Jim is younger than Joe and Joe is younger than Jim! It is enough to make us want to trash the whole theory of relativity and start over.

We cannot trash the whole theory, however. Its conclusions have been proven to be true! An experiment was conducted not long ago in which an airplane was taken aloft having a payload that consisted of an atomic clock, among other things. The time according to the clock was compared with the time according to another, synchronized, atomic clock on the ground. When the plane returned, there was a discrepancy, though small, that exactly matched the discrepancy according the special theory of relativity.

There is only one way to resolve the paradox,find out how?. I have the answer, but the theory of relativity is still puzzling to me. If someone could explain that to me,....!

I should quote Einstein! "God may be sophisticated but he is not malicious" meaning that although the universe is elegant it is not designed with the intention of being too complicated!

Yesterday, we went out of the city and saw the meterio showers on the sky, saw the milky way. It is wonderful. Thanks to Kasthuri and two other friends. Ok I digressed a lot, I will stop.