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A.T. said:Thanks. Just to clarify: Are you assuming that the "Extended turnaround" will result in the same age difference on return as the "Simple turnaround"? Or why do you think that the effects of 1) and 2) must cancel?
From analysis in an IRF, all these scenarios depend only on B's spacetime interval - not on short-term acceleration profiles - isn't that the whole issue?
To within a day or two either way, the spacetime interval has a fixed length for all these scenarios. As long as B is traveling at 0.8c for almost all of the journey (in the Earth frame), then the differential ageing is determined (to within a day or two) solely by that.
This is the fundamental problem with the acceleration-based analysis. You can include all sorts of additional accelerations, but it doesn't make any significant difference - as long as the accelerations themselves are short lived.