Chapter 3 on the twin paradox claimed that the minority interpretation can explain the symmetry of length contraction. It is useful to work through the details of this explanation, both to appreciate its madcap complexity and its miraculous conclusion. Recall the scenario rehearsed at the end of that chapter: the Jaguar has length d when stationary, but this is contracted to d′ when it moves inertially at the speed ν. A flash of light begins at the exact mid-point of the car and spreads out in opposite directions to the front and rear ends of the car.

Assume that: (i) the car is really contracted to a length d′ (Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction); (ii) the driver cannot detect this contraction and assumes the length of the car remains d; (iii) light travels at a constant speed relative to the ether, that is, the absolute rest frame; (iv) but the light appears to travel at the same relative speed in all directions (an empirical fact); and (v) the car is moving to the right, so the rear of the car is to the left. To measure the lengths of objects passing by, the driver notes the locations of their ends at the same time, and erroneously assumes that the flash reaches the two ends of the car in the same length of time (believing that the car is stationary).

Find the real times taken for the flash to reach the rear and front of the car from the mid-point, that is, to traverse half the contracted length of the moving car in either direction.