- #1
loislane
- 134
- 6
Muons time dilation from the Earth's frame (and length contraction of Earth's atmosphere from muon's frame) is the usual explanation of the fact that muons reach the Earth when they shouldn't just by their rest half-life.
My question is if the explanation based on differential aging(different half-lifes in this case) of a muon at rest on Earth's atmosphere and a cosmic ray traveling muon different path relative to the Earth's muon(a la twin paradox explanation) is considered exactly equivalent to the usual explanation in terms of time dilation and length contraction in different frames(earth's and muon's).
My question is if the explanation based on differential aging(different half-lifes in this case) of a muon at rest on Earth's atmosphere and a cosmic ray traveling muon different path relative to the Earth's muon(a la twin paradox explanation) is considered exactly equivalent to the usual explanation in terms of time dilation and length contraction in different frames(earth's and muon's).