Is the Twin Paradox Real or Just Apparent in Relativity?

[Mike_Fontenot]

My confusion has only increased now.

If each looks young to the other, then it means no body has actually aged.

In special relativity, whenever the twins AREN'T co-located, they generally will NOT agree about the correspondence between their current ages, nor about their respective current rates of ageing. And neither of them is "the one who is ACTUALLY correct" ... they are EACH correct: each of their conclusions is CORRECT and REAL, in the sense that each of their conclusions agrees with each of their own elementary measurements and first-principle calculations. This is true no matter WHAT either of them is doing ... whether or not either of them is inertial or accelerating.

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When they approach each other should not the opposite happen, i.e., the clock in the reference frame of A who is actually returning should appear to go fast with respect to that of B and similarly the clock of B should appear faster to A?

Here, I think you are being confused by different meanings and usages of the term "appear". If one of the twins sees a TV image of the other twin (perhaps holding a sign giving her age), then when the twins are approaching each other, the age reported on the sign will be changing faster than the observer's age. That rate of ageing IS appropriately referred to as the "apparent ageing" of the other twin. But it obviously is NOT the true rate of ageing of the other twin, according to the observer. The age reported on the sign is the other twin's age at the instant the image was TRANSMITTED. The observer must determine how much the other twin aged while the message was in transit, and use that additional ageing to calculate the age of the other twin at the instant that the message was RECEIVED. The result of that calculation is the correct current age of the other twin, according to the observing twin. Some people mistakenly call this latter result "the apparent age" of the other twin, but that is very misleading terminology, and should not be used. That (properly) computed result is as real as real can be.

Mike Fontenot