I figured this article would fly over my head (which it mostly did), but it was actually a very fun read. My main takeaway was the paradox that the interesting arrangement of matter could be in its lowest energy state, yet still moving. And that no energy could be extracted from this movement. I'm probably butchering the concept with my misuse of terminology but whatevs.
I don't know anything about anything, but I want to enumerate some things I learned reading this article, and if someone actually knows what they're talking about and sees fit to take pity on me, please correct me so that I can understand what this actually means.<p>So a time crystal appears to be made up of real matter. The article mentions ions that are arranged in a certain particular way, cooled in order to reduce their energy, and this still makes sense so far.<p>So, the idea is to create a closed loop of sorts from a temporal perspective. I'm imagining an object as a set of states that the object can be observed in, and if there was a loop, it'd be possible to observe a certain sequence of states over and over.<p>The arrangement of the ions is important, and one of the properties is the spin, which is possible to change with a laser beam, because obviously.<p>Anyways, I guess the frequency of the oscillation of the ions changing spin, since they interact with each other in a domino fashion, can be controlled with the frequency of the laser.<p>They did this, and observed the ions changing in such a way where there was no driving influence and it's implied that the reason that this behavior was observed is because time symmetry was broken, which is just a fancy way of alleging that the universe is non-deterministic, I think.<p>Maybe this will eventually be useful?
What are time crystals? Try this: <i>Physicists Predict The Existence of Time Crystals</i> <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/426917/physicists-predict-the-existence-of-time-crystals/" rel="nofollow">https://www.technologyreview.com/s/426917/physicists-predict...</a>
Can someone explain what computations using __zero energy__ from related article [1] actually means ?<p>[1] <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/426917/physicists-predict-the-existence-of-time-crystals/" rel="nofollow">https://www.technologyreview.com/s/426917/physicists-predict...</a><p>"""
Another is the possibility that it may be possible to exploit time crystals to perform computations using zero energy. As Wilczek puts it, “it is interesting to speculate that a…quantum mechanical system whose states could be interpreted as a collection of qubits, could be engineered to traverse a programmed landscape of structured states in Hilbert space over time.”
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This is a fascinating concept. What kinds of applications could time crystals be used for?<p>Time locked crypto that doesn't rely on proof of work jumps to mind, but I'm by no means an expert on either cryptography or quantum mechanics.
Correct me if If Im wrong. A time crystal is a cycle at atomic level.<p>- matter / energy is neither added nor removed to retain shape/movement<p>- the energy/matter within the "crystal" change state/position in a repeating and/or predictable matter<p>- pattern retains even when the energy is at extreme lows<p>This would be analogous to a water cycle. The water changes state in a predictable manner, water heats up (due to the sun) and evaporates. As the molecules get closer to space, the cool and attract each other to form clouds. The clouds hit a maximum and rain occurs flowing back into bodies of water again.<p>The difference is that the water cycle needs the presence of heat/cooling from external sources while the time crystal can exist at "zero degree" temperatures.
So, states change without physical objects changing position. Meanwhile we pitiful humans, have a hard time distinguishing the objects that exchange states.<p>...and can someone tell me where the <i>actual</i> time comes into play?<p>Sure, one can say it is "something not unlike" the manipulation of time, and yet... somehow... it seems like we're just deciding to call it something it is not, since it certainly seems similar enough.<p>If I carve a piece of wood, such that it resembles a gun, it can play the part of a gun, but only until a person with an actual gun challenges me to a duel.
>But the laws of physics are not only symmetrical in space but also in time.<p>Can someone explain what this means? It makes sense that physical laws are symmetrical in space. But in time? I thought that would <i>not</i> be the case because of entropy/irreversible processes etc. What am I missing? The whole article rests on this premise.
wow that was fast! <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12474029" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12474029</a> ("Time crystals might exist after all")
This is very interesting, but I'm frankly not convinced that they've actually created a spacetime crystal. Either way though, it's a fascinating bit of work.
Ever since I saw my parents' initial skepticism to the use of handheld devices (smartphones, tablets etc.) I have always wondered what such a mental block for my generation might be like. It could very well be an invention such as this that is considered speculative today which might become viable overnight. My kid may someday wonder why his dad doesn't understand basic quantum phenomena.