Physics Perpetual motion without energy. Scientists have confirmed a brand new form of matter: time crystals

[cannot]

FIONA MACDONALD
28 JAN 2017

For months now, there's been speculation that researchers might have finally created time crystals - strange crystals that have an atomic structure that repeats not just in space, but in time, putting them in perpetual motion without energy.

Now it's official - researchers have just reported in detail how to make and measure these bizarre crystals. And two independent teams of scientists claim they've actually created time crystals in the lab based off this blueprint, confirming the existence of an entirely new form of matter.

The discovery might sound pretty abstract, but it heralds in a whole new era in physics - for decades we've been studying matter that's defined as being 'in equilibrium', such as metals and insulators.

But it's been predicted that there are many more strange types of matter out there in the Universe that aren't in equilibrium that we haven't even begun to look into, including time crystals. And now we know they're real.

The fact that we now have the first example of non-equilibrium matter could lead to breakthroughs in our understanding of the world around us, as well as new technology such as quantum computing.

"This is a new phase of matter, period, but it is also really cool because it is one of the first examples of non-equilibrium matter," said lead researcher Norman Yao from the University of California, Berkeley.

"For the last half-century, we have been exploring equilibrium matter, like metals and insulators. We are just now starting to explore a whole new landscape of non-equilibrium matter."

http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-just-announced-a-brand-new-form-of-matter-time-crystals

this sounds very cool

i hope it isnt pseudoscience ?

 

[cannot]

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/time-crystal-created-lab

"This is a new phase of matter, period, but it is also really cool because it is one of the first examples of non-equilibrium matter," lead researcher Norman Yao from the University of California, Berkeley told EurekaAlert!.

The idea of time crystals--of a form of matter that appears to move even at its energy-less ground state--was first proposed by Nobel-Prize winning theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek in 2012. Usually, if matter is in its ground state, movement should be impossible, because it contains no energy.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a24957/time-crystals/

 

[grumbleguts]

A couple of things scare me. The reference to a new phase of matter, using a line of only ten atoms. It's a little bit like those paradoxes where you have a ship let's call it the mary celeste and you replace a piece of that ship that is rotting,with a new piece. Then gradually you replace more and more of it. at what point is it no longer the mary celeste and instead some other ship?

In phases of matter you need multiple particles because the phase is defined by how those particles interact, hence you cannot have a phase of matter with one atom. With only ten atoms, they would be interacting with each other in ways that would incorporate, at least instantaneously, characteristics of the three main phases of matter. If you could isolate 10 atoms of anything, it'd almost automatically be observed as a new phase of matter.

As far as the time crystal component is concerned, it has been published in a peer reviewed article. One of the people in the articles posted above is one of the coauthors of the article mentioned here. (You need a subscription to read it though, so uni students would be able to get access.)

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.090402

 

[Deaneus!]

A couple of things scare me. The reference to a new phase of matter, using a line of only ten atoms. It's a little bit like those paradoxes where you have a ship let's call it the mary celeste and you replace a piece of that ship that is rotting,with a new piece. Then gradually you replace more and more of it. at what point is it no longer the mary celeste and instead some other ship?

That's the Ship of Theseus discussion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

 

[darthbards]

That's the Ship of Theseus discussion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

Wouldn't thought experiments such as these be considered pseudoscience?

 

[Deaneus!]

Wouldn't thought experiments such as these be considered pseudoscience?

No.

 

[sataris]

That's the Ship of Theseus discussion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

I was actually trying to find this the other day,but couldn't the remember the damn name

Thanks1

 

[CD Xbow]

A couple of things scare me. The reference to a new phase of matter, using a line of only ten atoms. It's a little bit like those paradoxes where you have a ship let's call it the mary celeste and you replace a piece of that ship that is rotting,with a new piece. Then gradually you replace more and more of it. at what point is it no longer the mary celeste and instead some other ship?

In phases of matter you need multiple particles because the phase is defined by how those particles interact, hence you cannot have a phase of matter with one atom. With only ten atoms, they would be interacting with each other in ways that would incorporate, at least instantaneously, characteristics of the three main phases of matter. If you could isolate 10 atoms of anything, it'd almost automatically be observed as a new phase of matter.

As far as the time crystal component is concerned, it has been published in a peer reviewed article. One of the people in the articles posted above is one of the coauthors of the article mentioned here. (You need a subscription to read it though, so uni students would be able to get access.)

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.090402

I think there are 2 labs reporting. I will ask Gandalf to look, if we don't find it, he can probably conjure some up to play with.