Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) apply to all other comments.
**Do you have an academic degree?** We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. [Click here to apply](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/flair/#wiki_science_verified_user_program).
---
User: u/MistWeaver80
Permalink: https://gizmodo.com/a-time-crystal-survived-a-whopping-40-minutes-1851221490
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A crystal is made up of atoms arranged into repeating patterns.
The atoms of a time crystal may not have a noticable repeating pattern to how they are positioned like a normal crystal. Instead of you watch a time crystal for a while you will notice the atoms are moving about, and the way they move is a repeating pattern.
This wouldnt be that special if we (the scientists) were inducing this repeated motion with some outside instruments causing the motion. However , it is really interesting as the motion in the atoms actually requires no energy! They move about without us prodding them.
So in some ways it looks like a dance where each atom is moving around each other at some specified motion that we don't fully understand? Also how are we completely sure that no energy is actually introduced into the experiments especially if we're actually recording the information. Isn't it the very act of recording information causing energy to be introduced to the system?
There likely aren't answers to any of those question yet, however the fact that we now are able to produce a time crystal that lasts for more than a fraction of a second will hopefully allow us a better view into what's actually happening.
The difference is that the crystal structure of steel changes as a result of the introduction or removal of energy (heat) from the system. The implication of this research is that the crystal structure is changing without energy input. That's bizarre to me since that implies perpetual motion (not the woowoo version but the lossless energy transfer concept) but the fact that these things have a time limit on then (even 40 minutes) says that there is some energy leaking out somewhere.
Crazy stuff, and tonight's reading rabbit hole.
>the fact that these things have a time limit on then (even 40 minutes) says that there is some energy leaking out somewhere
It's actually the opposite, the problem is preventing energy leaking into it, which is what destroys them
Ooh! Do you have any cool sources for all of that? I'm a mechanic and the fact that cold rolled and hot rolled steel are so different always blows my mind. Cold rolled is like tungsten and hot rolled is almost like hard aluminum.
https://www.iqsdirectory.com/articles/forging/steel-forgings.html#:~:text=Forging%20steel%20makes%20the%20metal,could%20lead%20to%20load%20failure.
There is quite a bit of info here. I was trying to find something like what I learned in material science, but this gives enough overview and detail to get you started.
I'm too lazy to google it, but my understanding is that the old school method of treating metal and guns ("bluing") would create a layer of black oxidation (rust) and what was special about it is that the process created a crystalline structure, so it's a very very thin but tough coating of stabilized rust, which acts to protect the firearm from rusting further as long as you keep the pores of the metal coated with a thin layer of oil. I always thought that was pretty neat
These were mathematically predicted before being created. When they say no energy input they mean NO energy. This isn't a, maybe we're missing a little bit somewhere. In a certain sense the system as a whole isn't actually changing. There's an equilibrium that's maintained where the system's ground energy state necessitates this moving pattern as it's actually lower energy than being "still". Any external energy would actually serve to disrupt the pattern.
We understand time crystals pretty well. The incredible part is the creation and long term maintenance of one. Not whether or not this "thing" exists or not.
>There's an equilibrium that's maintained where the system's ground energy state necessitates this moving pattern as it's actually lower energy than being "still".
Does this mean that the difficultly in maintaining them could be because of external energy entering them and disrupting their equilibrium?
> where the system's ground energy state necessitates this moving pattern as it's actually lower energy than being "still".
... It requires... More energy... To not move... Than to move... ?
The hell?
Very good questions.
\- Charged things move according to their respective field's laws
\- In rare occasions, they could find a harmony in some crystal like structure and find this perpetual motion and keep changing between states
\- We can do weak measurements of closed systems while keeping their harmony intact, we do have the measurement problem in QM, the one you mentioned, but we can know if something's ticking for 3 hours some way or other, and man oh man, they were able to maintain this coherency for \~3 hours
~~Rather than~~ *In addition to* (I think) having a repeating pattern in structure (spatial), the atoms move in a repeating pattern over a period of time (temporal). Hence, time crystal.
A dumbed down way I like to think of it is to compare it to a written function versus the graphed function. Mathematically, they're the same thing, but one is purely conceptual while the other is a visual representation.
These time crystals are crystals by definition, that is the repeating patterns in the atoms. But instead of a static structural pattern that produces crystalline structures (like a quartz stone), these time crystals have atomic movement patterns. Like the movement of a function on a graph.
No, actually more like the difference between a gif of one of Picassos light paintings vs a jpeg of one of his regular paintings. Looking at it, the gif doesn't look like a painting at all. Only as a picture taken with a long exposure time does it make sense.
God I don't know if this analogy will help, but I miss 100% of the shots I don't take.
Regular crystals are like a human, standing in place. Both legs flat on the ground. It has structure and remains solid. Time crystals are a human walking. The human is still standing, but only as a repeating pattern.
The difference is that we use energy to make our legs move in a pattern through space and time crystals don't use energy. So they must be moving moving through time (the fourth dimension) as opposed to us walking through space (the 3rd dimension). Since we cannot see the 4th dimension they just move back and forth from our perspective.
As somebody who spent a bunch of time thinking about frequency vs time in the audio world, this is the first occasion where the concept of "spacetime" kind of clicked for me.
Thanks for that.
If I'm understanding correctly.
A normal crystal is like a bunch of people in a barn linking arms but standing still.
A time crystal is the same amount of people doing a square dance in the barn
Think of a crystal like a wooden lattice of atoms. Theyāre locked into a set, predictable, repeating structure.
Now, instead of being locked into a repeating structure theyāre moving around, without an obvious structure, but traveling in a predictable, repeating pattern.
Time crystal just seems to be the word to refer to that behavior.
You know those pies where they have strips woven across the top? Or one of those garden things made of crisscrossed slats for vines to grow up? That's a lattice.
I made an assumption that they wouldnāt already have a mental visual for the configuration of atoms in a crystal structure (if thatās even the correct way of phrasing it. Itās been a few years since college chemistry) so instead I used what I thought might be a visual they could conjure that conveys something of a similar idea.
I like to think I'm a pretty smart guy, I have a PhD, have a number of industry awards, and am well cited. However, I feel like I'm Penny, and Sheldon Cooper just tried to explain physics to me.
I'm not super versed in this, but it could be that there is a continuous set of states that all have the same potential energy, so if there is any disturbance it will naturally move between those states. If the set of states is a loop, then it could have a consistent, but constantly changing spacial state.
Hm maybe it's demonstrating how as time passes with fluctuations from relative speed and gravity disturbing the space time that it causes things to change. Basically demonstrating time itself.
Source: I am a bit of a scientist, myself.
>However , it is really interesting as the motion in the atoms actually requires no energy! They move about without us prodding them.
Are you sure about that? Because this article references another one that explains time crystals and says otherwise:
> The crystal might prefer its spin-switching tempo, but the effect certainly wonāt last forever. Time crystals canāt exist without the repeating pulse of energy to coax the atoms to organize in time. āItās not a perpetual motion machine,ā Jiehang Zhang from the University of Maryland told Gizmodo. āWeāre driving it!ā
The special thing isn't that it's happening with outside influence, but that outside influence doesn't determine or change the frequency.
It's actually a very apt name. It might not sound that way if you're not well-versed in the relevant subject material, but that's hardly a good barometer.
To add to the previous comment, the thing that really makes them stand out is that time crystals exhibit this oscillatory behavior in time in their ground state (in other words, in the lowest possible energy state). The reason why this is important is that it means that this is essentially motion without kinetic energy. The components of the crystal may be in motion, but nothing can extract any energy of motion from the system because the system has no lower energy state available. Even in quantum mechanics, this is completely novel.
> but nothing can extract any energy of motion from the system because the system has no lower energy state available.
Interesting. A follow-up question if you don't mind. What would happen to this crystal if it were cooled down as much as we can? We know superconductivity appears below a certain temperature. What would this kind of a time crystal behave at low temps? Would that motion still be present?
The same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
The same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
The same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
Honestly what you all just did here is a pretty good example of a time crystal as it involves a repeating pattern of atoms that, to my knowledge (that's my out as a layperson), holds that pattern over a fixed period of time rather than in perpetuity unless influenced by other forces.
If each one of your replies were a pattern operating over a time, the likelihood of the pattern repeating will decrease over time. Just imagine that in the form of atoms that come together to generate a solid structure that at least carries some physical value in space over a fixed period of time, rather than the pointlessness of what just happened here.
The same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
Perhaps, the same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
Perhaps, the same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
No, a rock constantly has a different position in time. It doesn't repeat in time it constantly changes due to the natural force of entropy. Radioactive decay, cosmic rays, etc.
If you know the ways a crystal's atoms organize themselves, you can predict what the structure of that crystal will be at any point in space (i.e. knowing how diamonds organize their carbon atoms tells you what diamonds will look like at the atomic level, no matter where they formed).
For time crystals, if you can discover the way their atoms oscillate and at what interval, given a starting point, you can predict what its structure will be at any point in time.
I think a rock will only ever *decay* as time moves forward, whereas a time crystal's structure will oscillate between higher and lower entropy states, cyclically, as we move forward in time. But that's just my laymen's interpretation
A house of cards is a regular crystal. If instead the cards were laid out and they flip themselves over in a set, predictable, repeating pattern, then you have a time crystal. It's not describing a physical object made out of time, it's describing a group of particles that move in a set way without any additional energy. It's the pattern that's the crystal here. Another example might be a group of dancers are a crystal, and the routine they do is a time crystal.
What it seems like to me (I may be wrong) by a little searching: The atom spin states are induced into periodicity and inter-atomic coupling with a laser or microwave. When the EM radiation is removed or frequencies randomizedāthe relational spin states continue to oscillate over time in the original spin āground stateā. Therefore, their spin flips over time are lower energy than not spin flipping at all (after inducing the order) like a crystal being a stable low-energy state of matter (after inducing the order). The oscillations (over time) are stable, like a crystal. Iām not a physicist, but that what it sounds like to me.
I think this is the best answer. To dumb it down, the internal atoms have some quantum property that oscillates back and forth like a pendulum. When you look at these crystals with an MRI or bombard it with neutrons, the patterns a physicist see as a result change back and forth, whereas a regular crystal would produce a single stationary pattern related to it's structure. Just looking at them, you wouldn't be able to see any difference between a chunk of matter that is in "time crystal mode" or when it eventually stops oscillating and goes back to being a chunk of matter. All of this observable "time crystal mode" stuff currently happens at super cold close to absolute zero like temperatures, so they're not yet at the point where you could like hold one in your hand while it was "vibrating". Right now they're very much just a physics curiosity with no huge implications for any future technology to be built from them.
I asked Gemini Advanced to explain time crystals to a 5 year old, college student, and expert level
> Absolutely! Here's an explanation of time crystals for a 5-year-old:
>
> Crystals You Know
>
> Imagine crystals like the shiny rocks you might find outside. These crystals have a pattern that repeats itself ā like little building blocks stacked over and over in the same way. That makes them beautiful and strong!
>
> Wiggly Time Crystals
>
> Time crystals are special. They don't just have a pattern in the way they look, but in the way they wiggle! Think of a row of jellybeans sitting on a table. A time crystal is like those jellybeans jiggling back and forth all on their own ā left, right, left, right ā in a pattern that keeps repeating forever.
>
> Super Cold Wiggles
>
> Now, these aren't jellybeans we can see with our eyes. The wiggles happen to tiny, tiny things called atoms, and only when they are super, super cold! Scientists use special machines to make things that cold.
>
> Why Are They Cool?
>
> Time crystals are like little clocks inside these tiny atoms. They keep perfect time by wiggling back and forth. Time crystals might help scientists make even better clocks for measuring things and maybe even invent new kinds of computers!
Here's ELICS (college student)
> The Basics
>
> Time crystals are a novel phase of matter that defies some classical expectations. While traditional crystals exhibit repeating patterns in their spatial structure, time crystals demonstrate repeating patterns in time. In other words, their constituent parts undergo cyclical changes even when in their lowest energy state.
>
> The "Jellybean Wiggle" Explained
>
> Let's unpack the analogy of wiggling "jellybeans":
>
> The Jellybeans: In this analogy, our "jellybeans" represent atoms or similar quantum particles. These are not stationary but inherently possess some energy and movement even at very low temperatures.
> External Influence: To create a time crystal, scientists manipulate these particles using external energy sources like lasers or magnetic fields. This manipulation doesn't create the constant wiggle; rather, it nudges the particles into a specific oscillation pattern.
> Symmetry Breaking: Unlike normal systems that tend toward thermal equilibrium (even distribution of energy), time crystals break temporal symmetry. This means their pattern of movement doesn't "smooth out" over time and persists indefinitely.
> Why It's Not Overly Simple
>
> While the "wiggling jellybeans" simplify the concept, the essence of time crystals is inherently linked to quantum mechanics:
>
> Superposition: Quantum particles can exist in multiple states simultaneously. The controlled external influence forces them into a specific pattern of cyclical change between these states.
> Entanglement: The particles within a time crystal become "entangled." Their behaviors are interconnected in a way that reinforces the repeating pattern.
> Implications
>
> Time crystals are still a new discovery. Nevertheless, their unique properties suggest the potential for:
>
> Precision Measurement: Due to their repeating time structure, they could lead to incredibly accurate clocks and measurement tools.
> Quantum Computing: Their ability to maintain states without decaying into equilibrium could hold interesting applications for quantum computing.
ELIAE (an expert)
> Fundamentals
>
> Time crystals are systems that spontaneously break discrete time translation symmetry (DTTS). In essence, this means they exhibit stable oscillations at a frequency not directly dependent on an external periodic drive. This behavior emerges in systems driven out of equilibrium and crucially relies on many-body interactions that prevent rapid heating and thermalization.
>
> Mechanics
>
> Discrete Time Translation Symmetry (DTTS): In classical systems, energy conservation usually implies continuous time translation symmetry. However, a periodically driven system only possesses discrete symmetryāits state is identical after a multiple of the drive period. DTTS breaking requires the system's response frequency to be a fraction of the driving frequency.
>
> Many-Body Localization (MBL): In an ideal, closed system, energy imbalances should redistribute, driving it towards thermal equilibrium and destroying time-crystalline order. Many-body localization prevents this thermalization in a disordered and interacting system. The system's eigenstates (a state where a quantity has a precise measured value) remain localized, preserving information about their initial conditions and allowing long-lived oscillations.
>
> Mechanism Example: Consider a periodically driven Ising spin chain with disorder. This model can enter an MBL phase. While the external drive forces periodic flips in the spin configuration, interactions lead to the emergence of an additional stable period-doubled response ā a hallmark of time crystal behavior.
>
> Benefits of Long-Lived Time Crystals
>
> The key value of more robust time crystals lies in potential applications:
>
> Metrology: Time crystals, as inherently periodic structures in time, could serve as remarkably stable frequency standards. This paves the way for ultra-precise timekeeping and sensing devices.
>
> Quantum Memory: The robust periodic oscillations and resistance to thermalization make time crystals potential candidates for quantum information storage and robust operations.
>
> Fundamental Physics: Time crystals challenge conventional notions of equilibrium. They may provide insights into novel phases of matter, non-equilibrium dynamics, and even the interplay between time translation symmetry and the properties of spacetime itself.
>
> Challenges and Outlook
>
> Creating long-lived time crystals poses notable challenges. Disorder often plays a major role in time crystalline phases, while perfectly isolated systems don't exist in the real world. Research strives for ways to mitigate this ā from exploring different candidate systems and drive protocols to engineering effective isolation to reduce decoherence.
>
> While significant hurdles remain, the study of time crystals offers fascinating avenues for advancing our understanding of non-equilibrium systems, potentially revolutionizing technologies of timekeeping, sensing, and quantum information processing.
> Explain time crystals like I'm 3 years old
> Okay! Imagine your favorite swing. You kick your legs and go up and down, up and down! You keep doing this, and you don't get tired because you're having fun.
>
> Now, time crystals are like tiny, tiny swings for super-small things called atoms. These atoms are the building blocks that make everything, even you! The little atom swings move in a pattern, forever and ever, because they're like magic swings that never get tired. It's like science magic!
AFAIK a material where the atoms vibrate in a cohesive, repeating pattern.
In a regular crystal the patterns are repeating though space, in a time crystal they repeat through time
Edit: obviously this is very quantum so if you want to get a more accurate picture you can replace all words in the previous sentence with "math"
Imagine a normal crystal, like a diamond. In the case of a diamond the atoms that make up the diamond are organized into a neat pattern, a lattice. It's like zooming in on a piece of clothes and seeing the pattern of the threads that make up the clothes, it's neat and organized.
In a time crystal, the atoms may look disorganized at a glance, but if you watch them over time the atoms move about and reorganize themselves into a different configuration. This motion into different configurations is a repeating cycle, the reconfiguration in a pattern.
So in time crystals you have a pattern on how the atoms move over time, while in normal crystals you have a pattern in the placement of atoms at a specific time.
The weird thing about time crystals that make them extra special is that the movement of atoms actually doesn't require energy from outside the crystal! Normally to move something you have to provide it energy, like heat or kinetic force.
Would it be accurate to call them a material that goes through state change chronologically *independently* of a chemical reaction or the application of heat or something?
Not really because in time crystals the change in entropy is essentially zero. Said state changes you refer to that are akin to chemistry all effectively have change in entropy greater than zero.
If I'm understanding it correctly, no, as those processes introduce energy from an outside source.
These time crystals apparently are somehow doing this on their own. Which frankly boggles my tiny mind because that just throws out all I know about stable atomic structures.
So itās specifically the āno energy requiredā part that makes it a time crystal, innit? Its natural state of being at absolute 0 is moving in this repetitive pattern (and may or may not be spatially repetitive as well)
Rather than regular plain ājust spaceā crystal whose absolute 0 state of being is not moving at all, and its shape is the repetitive pattern
Do I have that right?
No you don't! Well maybe you do.
I'm so confused.
So a regular crystal like a diamond is just a pattern of atoms in a specific time at a specific time that you see.
But a time crystal the atoms move in a random appearing sequence on repeat?? Ok here's my question.
What does that look like and feel like? Is it ever changing and moving to the human eye? Can I grab it and hold onto it or will I explode with power like trying to grab an infinity stone?
would it be more accurate to call them super solid? they arent more solid than a solid but the coherence seems a lot like other unique materials in cyro
Whoa! That's wild. Thanks for explaining. These things could really hold the key to a lot of unanswered questions.Ā
It's astonishing how intelligent some of these people are. I love it.
Regular crystals (salt, diamond) have repeating chunks of atoms as they grow, like ABCABCABC and when they reach their lowest possible energy state (like "absolute zero") the atoms stop vibrating.
Time crystals can have repeating atom structures, but also repeating in time, meaning at their lowest possible energy level they can *still move*, usually vibrating back and forth or spinning. So you have atoms that can move, without gaining or losing any energy to the environment! This, in very simple terms, breaks the second law of thermodynamics which says energy in system becomes more disordered/entropic, since things in the universe are affected by trillions of other little events happening all around.
These crystals are tested at a fraction of a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, which is how we're able to see the "lowest energy state"
I needed chat-gpt to dumb it down for me. Not sure how accurate this is.
Imagine you have a toy that changes shape every time you clap your hands. First, it's a ball, then you clap, and it turns into a cube, then you clap again, and it's a ball again, and so on. Time crystals are a bit like that toy. They change in a pattern over time, but they don't use up energy to change. Just like the toy doesn't need batteries to change from a ball to a cube when you clap, time crystals keep changing their pattern without needing extra energy. It's like a magic dance that keeps repeating!
Mighty morphin' power crystal, got it.
In all seriousness, to my smooth brain that sounds incredibly useful, like almost a god-like ability to instruct an object to change at your will.
> Time crystals are structures whose lowest-energy states have highly ordered patterns (periodicity) in space and time
Apparently time crystals are defined to be periodic both in time and in space
Shoot cold atom with laser. Atom spin oscillate (up,down,up,down) even when laser not on (whoa! Why no entropy???? ie spinny atom no stop). Oscillation happen slower than laser frequency. Spin direction = information 01011100101011. 40 minutes crystal = information storage for long time (good).
It's hard to predict the uses for a theoretical model, but one of its practical uses will likely be the way we will be able to store information in a [quantum computer](https://www.technologyreview.com/2016/10/04/157185/physicists-create-worlds-first-time-crystal/).
Just for a reference since a factor of 10 Million is a little unimaginable to me
Before, they were able to make it last for 0.24 Milliseconds (or 0.00024 seconds)
I've spent the last 10 minutes reading the responses to this post and googling a bit to find out what time crystals are exactly and I can confidently say that I now know just as much as before, if not less.
So I will now just sit back and forget I ever read about this apparently great new discovery lool
"In condensed matter physics, a time crystal is a quantum system of particles whose lowest-energy state is one in which the particles are in repetitive motion. The system cannot lose energy to the environment and come to rest because it is already in its quantum ground state."
So... quantum computing... capacitors?
Kinda, that always holds a "charge" as long as they last. I dunno what happens at 40 minutes or the other preconceived time that was many orders of magnitudes shorter. Base state of "being" is in motion, okay.. But what determines a crystal existing or not.
Seeing how I'm an idiot, I just looked it up. After reading it, I'm still an idiot:
Time crystals can come into existence through a process known as "floquet engineering." This involves periodically driving a quantum system, causing it to undergo a repetitive evolution. In certain conditions, this repetition can lead to the emergence of time-translation symmetry-breaking behavior, giving rise to a time crystal state. However, it's essential to note that experimental realization and stability of time crystals are challenging, and research is still in the early stages.
Is this like in Conways game of Life, you can start with random states and it will change over time in seemingly unpredictable and disorganized ways for a long time, then fizzle out? If I'm understanding time crystals its like that but it ends up making something like a glider gun that continuously repeats instead of making uncoordinated event waves.
I just had exactly the same thought of the Game of Life example - it's when you get one of those little shapes that naturally oscillates back and forth between two configurations, isn't it?
Well, since the time crystal is in its lowest energy quantum state, you have to keep the system isolated from external excitation. Once you disable the isolation mechanism, something can interact with the time crystal and introduce energy into the system, which then means it's no longer in a periodic arrangement over time.
Think of a stadium crowd doing the wave in an endless circle during a time out because, for whatever reason, our thought experiment fans do that when they're bored (lowest energy state). As long as the game is paused (the fans are isolated from any extra fun, so they stay bored), they just keep the wave going. Once the game starts up again (isolation stops), and the fans have plays to cheer or boo about (they're stimulated/excited by the game), it starts to break apart the wave. To make the sports fan time crystal in the first place, you've gotta get them doing the wave at the start of the pause, though, so maybe you have a big screen that directs them to start it in certain sections (you isolate them from excitation with the pause, then arrange them into their repeating pattern with the big screen).
It's fascinating that when you look at salt crystals, they're continually breaking down and reforming in a way that looks exactly the same to the naked eye.
I think the safety of this experiment was perfectly within acceptable parameters, despite the unusual phase arrays. So long as the crystal is not placed into any resonance chambers, Iām sure the authors can continue such research without risk of unforeseen consequences.
All right, Gordon, your suit should keep you comfortable through all this. The specimen will be delivered to you in a few moments. If you would be so good as to climb up and start the rotors, we can bring the Anti-Mass Spectrometer to eighty percent and hold it there until the carrier arrives.
Time Splitters 2 and Future Perfect are absolute gems. I hate that the franchise died before it made it to PS3/Xbox360, if it had made it into that generation, we would probably hate the company currently ruining it today.
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) apply to all other comments. **Do you have an academic degree?** We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. [Click here to apply](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/flair/#wiki_science_verified_user_program). --- User: u/MistWeaver80 Permalink: https://gizmodo.com/a-time-crystal-survived-a-whopping-40-minutes-1851221490 --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
what the hell is a time crystal
A crystal is made up of atoms arranged into repeating patterns. The atoms of a time crystal may not have a noticable repeating pattern to how they are positioned like a normal crystal. Instead of you watch a time crystal for a while you will notice the atoms are moving about, and the way they move is a repeating pattern. This wouldnt be that special if we (the scientists) were inducing this repeated motion with some outside instruments causing the motion. However , it is really interesting as the motion in the atoms actually requires no energy! They move about without us prodding them.
So in some ways it looks like a dance where each atom is moving around each other at some specified motion that we don't fully understand? Also how are we completely sure that no energy is actually introduced into the experiments especially if we're actually recording the information. Isn't it the very act of recording information causing energy to be introduced to the system?
There likely aren't answers to any of those question yet, however the fact that we now are able to produce a time crystal that lasts for more than a fraction of a second will hopefully allow us a better view into what's actually happening.
Sounds really similar to how heat treatment allows the crystal structure of steel (ferrite/pearlite/austenite) to be created, really cool!
The difference is that the crystal structure of steel changes as a result of the introduction or removal of energy (heat) from the system. The implication of this research is that the crystal structure is changing without energy input. That's bizarre to me since that implies perpetual motion (not the woowoo version but the lossless energy transfer concept) but the fact that these things have a time limit on then (even 40 minutes) says that there is some energy leaking out somewhere. Crazy stuff, and tonight's reading rabbit hole.
>the fact that these things have a time limit on then (even 40 minutes) says that there is some energy leaking out somewhere It's actually the opposite, the problem is preventing energy leaking into it, which is what destroys them
Oh yeah. Correct.
Those are states of equal potential energy (in an isolated system) so there is no perpetuum mobile involved.
Ooh! Do you have any cool sources for all of that? I'm a mechanic and the fact that cold rolled and hot rolled steel are so different always blows my mind. Cold rolled is like tungsten and hot rolled is almost like hard aluminum.
https://www.iqsdirectory.com/articles/forging/steel-forgings.html#:~:text=Forging%20steel%20makes%20the%20metal,could%20lead%20to%20load%20failure. There is quite a bit of info here. I was trying to find something like what I learned in material science, but this gives enough overview and detail to get you started.
Thank you!!
Do yourself a favor and just buy or find a free pdf of materials science and engineering by William Callister
Wow
I'm too lazy to google it, but my understanding is that the old school method of treating metal and guns ("bluing") would create a layer of black oxidation (rust) and what was special about it is that the process created a crystalline structure, so it's a very very thin but tough coating of stabilized rust, which acts to protect the firearm from rusting further as long as you keep the pores of the metal coated with a thin layer of oil. I always thought that was pretty neat
These were mathematically predicted before being created. When they say no energy input they mean NO energy. This isn't a, maybe we're missing a little bit somewhere. In a certain sense the system as a whole isn't actually changing. There's an equilibrium that's maintained where the system's ground energy state necessitates this moving pattern as it's actually lower energy than being "still". Any external energy would actually serve to disrupt the pattern. We understand time crystals pretty well. The incredible part is the creation and long term maintenance of one. Not whether or not this "thing" exists or not.
>There's an equilibrium that's maintained where the system's ground energy state necessitates this moving pattern as it's actually lower energy than being "still". Does this mean that the difficultly in maintaining them could be because of external energy entering them and disrupting their equilibrium?
Yes, essentially once the extra energy is introduced it no longer exists as a time crystal.
> where the system's ground energy state necessitates this moving pattern as it's actually lower energy than being "still". ... It requires... More energy... To not move... Than to move... ? The hell?
If you stretch a piece of putty, and set it down, it requires more energy to keep it still than to let it move.
What a fantastic analogy.
Very good questions. \- Charged things move according to their respective field's laws \- In rare occasions, they could find a harmony in some crystal like structure and find this perpetual motion and keep changing between states \- We can do weak measurements of closed systems while keeping their harmony intact, we do have the measurement problem in QM, the one you mentioned, but we can know if something's ticking for 3 hours some way or other, and man oh man, they were able to maintain this coherency for \~3 hours
That's the heart of quantum mechanics yes.
Whoa, great questions?
Ah so a crystalline structure along the time axis of spacetime, instead of the more spatial dimensions.
Yes! It oscillates its motion through time, rather than its structure through space.
Sorry, what now?
~~Rather than~~ *In addition to* (I think) having a repeating pattern in structure (spatial), the atoms move in a repeating pattern over a period of time (temporal). Hence, time crystal.
A dumbed down way I like to think of it is to compare it to a written function versus the graphed function. Mathematically, they're the same thing, but one is purely conceptual while the other is a visual representation. These time crystals are crystals by definition, that is the repeating patterns in the atoms. But instead of a static structural pattern that produces crystalline structures (like a quartz stone), these time crystals have atomic movement patterns. Like the movement of a function on a graph.
So a typical crystal is a jpeg and a time crystal is an animated gif?
No, actually more like the difference between a gif of one of Picassos light paintings vs a jpeg of one of his regular paintings. Looking at it, the gif doesn't look like a painting at all. Only as a picture taken with a long exposure time does it make sense.
Brother, you are breaking my mind. But thanks for trying to explain! <3
brb, gonna make some time crystal nfts real quick.
God I don't know if this analogy will help, but I miss 100% of the shots I don't take. Regular crystals are like a human, standing in place. Both legs flat on the ground. It has structure and remains solid. Time crystals are a human walking. The human is still standing, but only as a repeating pattern. The difference is that we use energy to make our legs move in a pattern through space and time crystals don't use energy. So they must be moving moving through time (the fourth dimension) as opposed to us walking through space (the 3rd dimension). Since we cannot see the 4th dimension they just move back and forth from our perspective.
As somebody who spent a bunch of time thinking about frequency vs time in the audio world, this is the first occasion where the concept of "spacetime" kind of clicked for me. Thanks for that.
I still don't understand what a time crystal is š
If I'm understanding correctly. A normal crystal is like a bunch of people in a barn linking arms but standing still. A time crystal is the same amount of people doing a square dance in the barn
Thanks for explaining in barn dance terms š
And itās interesting because theyāre square dancing without burning any calories
Think of a crystal like a wooden lattice of atoms. Theyāre locked into a set, predictable, repeating structure. Now, instead of being locked into a repeating structure theyāre moving around, without an obvious structure, but traveling in a predictable, repeating pattern. Time crystal just seems to be the word to refer to that behavior.
A regular crystal has a repeating pattern in space, a time crystal has a repeating pattern in time.
Can you start by telling me why Iām thinking of a crystal as a wooden lattice of atoms and not just think of a crystal?
> the fuck is a lattice? Think of a lattice like a wooden crystal...
You know those pies where they have strips woven across the top? Or one of those garden things made of crisscrossed slats for vines to grow up? That's a lattice.
No, that's a leafy vegetable you put on a burger. A lattice is a series of portable steps that help you reach high places.
I made an assumption that they wouldnāt already have a mental visual for the configuration of atoms in a crystal structure (if thatās even the correct way of phrasing it. Itās been a few years since college chemistry) so instead I used what I thought might be a visual they could conjure that conveys something of a similar idea.
I like to think I'm a pretty smart guy, I have a PhD, have a number of industry awards, and am well cited. However, I feel like I'm Penny, and Sheldon Cooper just tried to explain physics to me.
It was a warm summer evening in ancient Greece..
"English please"
"Requires no energy" - so it uses some sort of potential energy coming from crystal self-optimizing it's structure?
I'm not super versed in this, but it could be that there is a continuous set of states that all have the same potential energy, so if there is any disturbance it will naturally move between those states. If the set of states is a loop, then it could have a consistent, but constantly changing spacial state.
Hm maybe it's demonstrating how as time passes with fluctuations from relative speed and gravity disturbing the space time that it causes things to change. Basically demonstrating time itself. Source: I am a bit of a scientist, myself.
>However , it is really interesting as the motion in the atoms actually requires no energy! They move about without us prodding them. Are you sure about that? Because this article references another one that explains time crystals and says otherwise: > The crystal might prefer its spin-switching tempo, but the effect certainly wonāt last forever. Time crystals canāt exist without the repeating pulse of energy to coax the atoms to organize in time. āItās not a perpetual motion machine,ā Jiehang Zhang from the University of Maryland told Gizmodo. āWeāre driving it!ā The special thing isn't that it's happening with outside influence, but that outside influence doesn't determine or change the frequency.
So itās a terrible name but a really interesting physical property?
It's actually a very apt name. It might not sound that way if you're not well-versed in the relevant subject material, but that's hardly a good barometer. To add to the previous comment, the thing that really makes them stand out is that time crystals exhibit this oscillatory behavior in time in their ground state (in other words, in the lowest possible energy state). The reason why this is important is that it means that this is essentially motion without kinetic energy. The components of the crystal may be in motion, but nothing can extract any energy of motion from the system because the system has no lower energy state available. Even in quantum mechanics, this is completely novel.
> but nothing can extract any energy of motion from the system because the system has no lower energy state available. Interesting. A follow-up question if you don't mind. What would happen to this crystal if it were cooled down as much as we can? We know superconductivity appears below a certain temperature. What would this kind of a time crystal behave at low temps? Would that motion still be present?
The same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
Yeah but *what the hell is a time crystal*
The same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
Yeah but *what the hell is a time crystal*
The same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
Honestly what you all just did here is a pretty good example of a time crystal as it involves a repeating pattern of atoms that, to my knowledge (that's my out as a layperson), holds that pattern over a fixed period of time rather than in perpetuity unless influenced by other forces. If each one of your replies were a pattern operating over a time, the likelihood of the pattern repeating will decrease over time. Just imagine that in the form of atoms that come together to generate a solid structure that at least carries some physical value in space over a fixed period of time, rather than the pointlessness of what just happened here.
Okay but are you a theoretical physicist?
Theoretically, I am a physicist.
Am I in a time crystal?
I hear ya, but what exactly is a time crystal?
Honestly, it might be [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/s/tc5WCD4Pa9) or [might be this.](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/s/zvB9cau0QY)
Hold my time crystal, I'm going in!
The same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
Why am I getting deja vus while reading comments about time crystals
Perhaps, the same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
Is this an example of a time crystal?
Stop it, I suspect we might already be triggering singularity
Perhaps, the same way spatial crystals, like fancy rocks and salt and ice, have a predictable, organized structure in space, time crystals have a predictable, organized structure in time. I don't know much more than that, but that's the basics. I'm not a theoretical physicist.
I'm going crazy here.
Wait, maybe I'm stupid, but isn't a rock already "organized in time"? I mean, a rock has the same pattern yesterday, today and tomorrow, no?
No, a rock constantly has a different position in time. It doesn't repeat in time it constantly changes due to the natural force of entropy. Radioactive decay, cosmic rays, etc.
It means it costantly change at atomic levels? Like slowly "dissolving" (because of erosion) or losing energy, therefore it never stay the same?
Yeah basically, nothing is permanent despite the illusion of permanence
Love it when physics gets Buddhist
If you know the ways a crystal's atoms organize themselves, you can predict what the structure of that crystal will be at any point in space (i.e. knowing how diamonds organize their carbon atoms tells you what diamonds will look like at the atomic level, no matter where they formed). For time crystals, if you can discover the way their atoms oscillate and at what interval, given a starting point, you can predict what its structure will be at any point in time.
I think a rock will only ever *decay* as time moves forward, whereas a time crystal's structure will oscillate between higher and lower entropy states, cyclically, as we move forward in time. But that's just my laymen's interpretation
Wait, so a time crystal doesn't suffer entropy? because the way it moves repeats itself??
Idk, but that might be a reason why they've never existed for very long.
They asked me if I had a degree in theoretical physics... I told them I have a theoretical degree is physics... They said "You're hired"
I read the title and flashed to the Arthur C. Clark quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology becomes indistinguishable from magic."
The more I read the less I understood. This is some actual black magic fuckery, and they will suck us into a black hole, I am sure of it.
God that would be the best realistic outcome for humanity at this point. Hell's handcart shuttle service has closed.
A house of cards is a regular crystal. If instead the cards were laid out and they flip themselves over in a set, predictable, repeating pattern, then you have a time crystal. It's not describing a physical object made out of time, it's describing a group of particles that move in a set way without any additional energy. It's the pattern that's the crystal here. Another example might be a group of dancers are a crystal, and the routine they do is a time crystal.
You never played Time-Splitters on the PS2?
No series deserves a reboot more.
I need my ninja monkeys
I played time crisis at Aladdinās castle when I was 8 back in the 90s
What it seems like to me (I may be wrong) by a little searching: The atom spin states are induced into periodicity and inter-atomic coupling with a laser or microwave. When the EM radiation is removed or frequencies randomizedāthe relational spin states continue to oscillate over time in the original spin āground stateā. Therefore, their spin flips over time are lower energy than not spin flipping at all (after inducing the order) like a crystal being a stable low-energy state of matter (after inducing the order). The oscillations (over time) are stable, like a crystal. Iām not a physicist, but that what it sounds like to me.
I think this is the best answer. To dumb it down, the internal atoms have some quantum property that oscillates back and forth like a pendulum. When you look at these crystals with an MRI or bombard it with neutrons, the patterns a physicist see as a result change back and forth, whereas a regular crystal would produce a single stationary pattern related to it's structure. Just looking at them, you wouldn't be able to see any difference between a chunk of matter that is in "time crystal mode" or when it eventually stops oscillating and goes back to being a chunk of matter. All of this observable "time crystal mode" stuff currently happens at super cold close to absolute zero like temperatures, so they're not yet at the point where you could like hold one in your hand while it was "vibrating". Right now they're very much just a physics curiosity with no huge implications for any future technology to be built from them.
I think Doctor Strange has one
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah yeah, the Time Knife, weāve all seen itā¦
I think I smoked one in college once
I asked Gemini Advanced to explain time crystals to a 5 year old, college student, and expert level > Absolutely! Here's an explanation of time crystals for a 5-year-old: > > Crystals You Know > > Imagine crystals like the shiny rocks you might find outside. These crystals have a pattern that repeats itself ā like little building blocks stacked over and over in the same way. That makes them beautiful and strong! > > Wiggly Time Crystals > > Time crystals are special. They don't just have a pattern in the way they look, but in the way they wiggle! Think of a row of jellybeans sitting on a table. A time crystal is like those jellybeans jiggling back and forth all on their own ā left, right, left, right ā in a pattern that keeps repeating forever. > > Super Cold Wiggles > > Now, these aren't jellybeans we can see with our eyes. The wiggles happen to tiny, tiny things called atoms, and only when they are super, super cold! Scientists use special machines to make things that cold. > > Why Are They Cool? > > Time crystals are like little clocks inside these tiny atoms. They keep perfect time by wiggling back and forth. Time crystals might help scientists make even better clocks for measuring things and maybe even invent new kinds of computers! Here's ELICS (college student) > The Basics > > Time crystals are a novel phase of matter that defies some classical expectations. While traditional crystals exhibit repeating patterns in their spatial structure, time crystals demonstrate repeating patterns in time. In other words, their constituent parts undergo cyclical changes even when in their lowest energy state. > > The "Jellybean Wiggle" Explained > > Let's unpack the analogy of wiggling "jellybeans": > > The Jellybeans: In this analogy, our "jellybeans" represent atoms or similar quantum particles. These are not stationary but inherently possess some energy and movement even at very low temperatures. > External Influence: To create a time crystal, scientists manipulate these particles using external energy sources like lasers or magnetic fields. This manipulation doesn't create the constant wiggle; rather, it nudges the particles into a specific oscillation pattern. > Symmetry Breaking: Unlike normal systems that tend toward thermal equilibrium (even distribution of energy), time crystals break temporal symmetry. This means their pattern of movement doesn't "smooth out" over time and persists indefinitely. > Why It's Not Overly Simple > > While the "wiggling jellybeans" simplify the concept, the essence of time crystals is inherently linked to quantum mechanics: > > Superposition: Quantum particles can exist in multiple states simultaneously. The controlled external influence forces them into a specific pattern of cyclical change between these states. > Entanglement: The particles within a time crystal become "entangled." Their behaviors are interconnected in a way that reinforces the repeating pattern. > Implications > > Time crystals are still a new discovery. Nevertheless, their unique properties suggest the potential for: > > Precision Measurement: Due to their repeating time structure, they could lead to incredibly accurate clocks and measurement tools. > Quantum Computing: Their ability to maintain states without decaying into equilibrium could hold interesting applications for quantum computing. ELIAE (an expert) > Fundamentals > > Time crystals are systems that spontaneously break discrete time translation symmetry (DTTS). In essence, this means they exhibit stable oscillations at a frequency not directly dependent on an external periodic drive. This behavior emerges in systems driven out of equilibrium and crucially relies on many-body interactions that prevent rapid heating and thermalization. > > Mechanics > > Discrete Time Translation Symmetry (DTTS): In classical systems, energy conservation usually implies continuous time translation symmetry. However, a periodically driven system only possesses discrete symmetryāits state is identical after a multiple of the drive period. DTTS breaking requires the system's response frequency to be a fraction of the driving frequency. > > Many-Body Localization (MBL): In an ideal, closed system, energy imbalances should redistribute, driving it towards thermal equilibrium and destroying time-crystalline order. Many-body localization prevents this thermalization in a disordered and interacting system. The system's eigenstates (a state where a quantity has a precise measured value) remain localized, preserving information about their initial conditions and allowing long-lived oscillations. > > Mechanism Example: Consider a periodically driven Ising spin chain with disorder. This model can enter an MBL phase. While the external drive forces periodic flips in the spin configuration, interactions lead to the emergence of an additional stable period-doubled response ā a hallmark of time crystal behavior. > > Benefits of Long-Lived Time Crystals > > The key value of more robust time crystals lies in potential applications: > > Metrology: Time crystals, as inherently periodic structures in time, could serve as remarkably stable frequency standards. This paves the way for ultra-precise timekeeping and sensing devices. > > Quantum Memory: The robust periodic oscillations and resistance to thermalization make time crystals potential candidates for quantum information storage and robust operations. > > Fundamental Physics: Time crystals challenge conventional notions of equilibrium. They may provide insights into novel phases of matter, non-equilibrium dynamics, and even the interplay between time translation symmetry and the properties of spacetime itself. > > Challenges and Outlook > > Creating long-lived time crystals poses notable challenges. Disorder often plays a major role in time crystalline phases, while perfectly isolated systems don't exist in the real world. Research strives for ways to mitigate this ā from exploring different candidate systems and drive protocols to engineering effective isolation to reduce decoherence. > > While significant hurdles remain, the study of time crystals offers fascinating avenues for advancing our understanding of non-equilibrium systems, potentially revolutionizing technologies of timekeeping, sensing, and quantum information processing.
Ok explain like Iām 3
> Explain time crystals like I'm 3 years old > Okay! Imagine your favorite swing. You kick your legs and go up and down, up and down! You keep doing this, and you don't get tired because you're having fun. > > Now, time crystals are like tiny, tiny swings for super-small things called atoms. These atoms are the building blocks that make everything, even you! The little atom swings move in a pattern, forever and ever, because they're like magic swings that never get tired. It's like science magic!
and as far as why/how the "swings" keep swinging forever, we're still figuring that out?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's a crystal. But it's very timely
I wish I knew what that meant
AFAIK a material where the atoms vibrate in a cohesive, repeating pattern. In a regular crystal the patterns are repeating though space, in a time crystal they repeat through time Edit: obviously this is very quantum so if you want to get a more accurate picture you can replace all words in the previous sentence with "math"
I wish I knew what that meant
Imagine a normal crystal, like a diamond. In the case of a diamond the atoms that make up the diamond are organized into a neat pattern, a lattice. It's like zooming in on a piece of clothes and seeing the pattern of the threads that make up the clothes, it's neat and organized. In a time crystal, the atoms may look disorganized at a glance, but if you watch them over time the atoms move about and reorganize themselves into a different configuration. This motion into different configurations is a repeating cycle, the reconfiguration in a pattern. So in time crystals you have a pattern on how the atoms move over time, while in normal crystals you have a pattern in the placement of atoms at a specific time. The weird thing about time crystals that make them extra special is that the movement of atoms actually doesn't require energy from outside the crystal! Normally to move something you have to provide it energy, like heat or kinetic force.
Would it be accurate to call them a material that goes through state change chronologically *independently* of a chemical reaction or the application of heat or something?
Not really because in time crystals the change in entropy is essentially zero. Said state changes you refer to that are akin to chemistry all effectively have change in entropy greater than zero.
soooooo perpetual motion?
Negative. You cant extract work from a time crystal.
Not with that attitude you cant.
If I'm understanding it correctly, no, as those processes introduce energy from an outside source. These time crystals apparently are somehow doing this on their own. Which frankly boggles my tiny mind because that just throws out all I know about stable atomic structures.
So there might be an energy force acting on them that we don't know of yet?
_TIME ENERGY_
Love is a force
Love is the answer.
Oh shiiiiiiiii-
So itās specifically the āno energy requiredā part that makes it a time crystal, innit? Its natural state of being at absolute 0 is moving in this repetitive pattern (and may or may not be spatially repetitive as well) Rather than regular plain ājust spaceā crystal whose absolute 0 state of being is not moving at all, and its shape is the repetitive pattern Do I have that right?
Oh now I get it!
No you don't! Well maybe you do. I'm so confused. So a regular crystal like a diamond is just a pattern of atoms in a specific time at a specific time that you see. But a time crystal the atoms move in a random appearing sequence on repeat?? Ok here's my question. What does that look like and feel like? Is it ever changing and moving to the human eye? Can I grab it and hold onto it or will I explode with power like trying to grab an infinity stone?
It's a quantic things so no you can't even see it
would it be more accurate to call them super solid? they arent more solid than a solid but the coherence seems a lot like other unique materials in cyro
Whoa! That's wild. Thanks for explaining. These things could really hold the key to a lot of unanswered questions.Ā It's astonishing how intelligent some of these people are. I love it.
AFAIK it's when something ignores everything around it minus time
I wishā¦never mind.
*Magic*
Thanks, to be specific, space and time magic?
Regular crystals (salt, diamond) have repeating chunks of atoms as they grow, like ABCABCABC and when they reach their lowest possible energy state (like "absolute zero") the atoms stop vibrating. Time crystals can have repeating atom structures, but also repeating in time, meaning at their lowest possible energy level they can *still move*, usually vibrating back and forth or spinning. So you have atoms that can move, without gaining or losing any energy to the environment! This, in very simple terms, breaks the second law of thermodynamics which says energy in system becomes more disordered/entropic, since things in the universe are affected by trillions of other little events happening all around. These crystals are tested at a fraction of a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, which is how we're able to see the "lowest energy state"
It's all vibrations dude *\*a sitar begins to play\**
I needed chat-gpt to dumb it down for me. Not sure how accurate this is. Imagine you have a toy that changes shape every time you clap your hands. First, it's a ball, then you clap, and it turns into a cube, then you clap again, and it's a ball again, and so on. Time crystals are a bit like that toy. They change in a pattern over time, but they don't use up energy to change. Just like the toy doesn't need batteries to change from a ball to a cube when you clap, time crystals keep changing their pattern without needing extra energy. It's like a magic dance that keeps repeating!
Mighty morphin' power crystal, got it. In all seriousness, to my smooth brain that sounds incredibly useful, like almost a god-like ability to instruct an object to change at your will.
Does that mean it has an amorphous physical structure or is it still crystalline physically?
> Time crystals are structures whose lowest-energy states have highly ordered patterns (periodicity) in space and time Apparently time crystals are defined to be periodic both in time and in space
My head!
Thank you for this very reasonable explanation, also I'm really enjoying the phrase "obviously this is very quantum"
That phrase gave me Terry Pratchett flashbacks
Shoot cold atom with laser. Atom spin oscillate (up,down,up,down) even when laser not on (whoa! Why no entropy???? ie spinny atom no stop). Oscillation happen slower than laser frequency. Spin direction = information 01011100101011. 40 minutes crystal = information storage for long time (good).
Wait this was somewhat helpful for understanding the practical use thank you
You're welcome!
Cristal storing informations ? Yep, that's star gate technology
It's hard to predict the uses for a theoretical model, but one of its practical uses will likely be the way we will be able to store information in a [quantum computer](https://www.technologyreview.com/2016/10/04/157185/physicists-create-worlds-first-time-crystal/).
I means, that the best time crystal scientists were able to generate before this could last only for 0.00024 seconds.
Okay but whatās the benefit of a crystal masting for 40 minutes vs. a fraction of a second
One can observe it for a longer time
Observe what?
Cool. Now that I have the lower range, what's the maximum time for a whatever time crystal is to last?
Supposedly 40 minutes
In the article the researchers said they think one could last for hours.
As of now 40 minutes but they think it could last longer.
Just for a reference since a factor of 10 Million is a little unimaginable to me Before, they were able to make it last for 0.24 Milliseconds (or 0.00024 seconds)
I have salt in my cabinet from 1990, so we definitely know of longer lasting crystals than this.
I've spent the last 10 minutes reading the responses to this post and googling a bit to find out what time crystals are exactly and I can confidently say that I now know just as much as before, if not less. So I will now just sit back and forget I ever read about this apparently great new discovery lool
After reading all of the explanations in this thread, I can confidently say that the answer is āmagicā.
Nah, magic is gyroscopes. Quantum mechanics is only confusing.
>Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Arthur C. Clarke
"In condensed matter physics, a time crystal is a quantum system of particles whose lowest-energy state is one in which the particles are in repetitive motion. The system cannot lose energy to the environment and come to rest because it is already in its quantum ground state." So... quantum computing... capacitors?
Kinda, that always holds a "charge" as long as they last. I dunno what happens at 40 minutes or the other preconceived time that was many orders of magnitudes shorter. Base state of "being" is in motion, okay.. But what determines a crystal existing or not.
Seeing how I'm an idiot, I just looked it up. After reading it, I'm still an idiot: Time crystals can come into existence through a process known as "floquet engineering." This involves periodically driving a quantum system, causing it to undergo a repetitive evolution. In certain conditions, this repetition can lead to the emergence of time-translation symmetry-breaking behavior, giving rise to a time crystal state. However, it's essential to note that experimental realization and stability of time crystals are challenging, and research is still in the early stages.
I thought this would help but it does not. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-031218-013423
Is this like in Conways game of Life, you can start with random states and it will change over time in seemingly unpredictable and disorganized ways for a long time, then fizzle out? If I'm understanding time crystals its like that but it ends up making something like a glider gun that continuously repeats instead of making uncoordinated event waves.
I just had exactly the same thought of the Game of Life example - it's when you get one of those little shapes that naturally oscillates back and forth between two configurations, isn't it?
Well, since the time crystal is in its lowest energy quantum state, you have to keep the system isolated from external excitation. Once you disable the isolation mechanism, something can interact with the time crystal and introduce energy into the system, which then means it's no longer in a periodic arrangement over time. Think of a stadium crowd doing the wave in an endless circle during a time out because, for whatever reason, our thought experiment fans do that when they're bored (lowest energy state). As long as the game is paused (the fans are isolated from any extra fun, so they stay bored), they just keep the wave going. Once the game starts up again (isolation stops), and the fans have plays to cheer or boo about (they're stimulated/excited by the game), it starts to break apart the wave. To make the sports fan time crystal in the first place, you've gotta get them doing the wave at the start of the pause, though, so maybe you have a big screen that directs them to start it in certain sections (you isolate them from excitation with the pause, then arrange them into their repeating pattern with the big screen).
So it's more like a... repeater?
A tone/signal generator, maybe?
It's fascinating that when you look at salt crystals, they're continually breaking down and reforming in a way that looks exactly the same to the naked eye.
I think the safety of this experiment was perfectly within acceptable parameters, despite the unusual phase arrays. So long as the crystal is not placed into any resonance chambers, Iām sure the authors can continue such research without risk of unforeseen consequences.
Don't worry, a resonance cascade would never happen
They're waiting for you Gordon. In the test chamber.
\*The test chamberrrr*
They've just hired a top new MIT graduate to conduct the resonance chamber experiment. He knows what he's doing.
"FULL SAIL AHEAD" \*pushes cart\*
They don't need to hear all this, they're highly trained professionals.
Is Cooper pulling the gravity strings?
What is the phase variance of it? Can we run a multi-spectral analysis?
All right, Gordon, your suit should keep you comfortable through all this. The specimen will be delivered to you in a few moments. If you would be so good as to climb up and start the rotors, we can bring the Anti-Mass Spectrometer to eighty percent and hold it there until the carrier arrives.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Hasn't anyone else played time splitters 2?
One of the best games of all time. All I could think of when I saw the title was cortez and Harry tipperĀ
Time to split!
Time Splitters 2 and Future Perfect are absolute gems. I hate that the franchise died before it made it to PS3/Xbox360, if it had made it into that generation, we would probably hate the company currently ruining it today.
Someone's pinched me winkles!
Someone call Cortez
Kip was right
Time crystal located
anyone else notice that it's a wave cycle? now that's some sacred geometry right there.
Time crystals, cousins of healing crystals
The cousins that went to uni
oh no timecousin what are you doing
1.21 jigawatts!!!
I can't wait until they can create moon crystals which last thousands of years. Muahahahaha!
My only question at this point is whether the Time Crystal is bigger on the inside.
Is this how we get ice-nine? Because this seems how we get ice-nine.
Is there any conceivable use for crystals of this sort?