A clock to keep time after universe dies - Technology & science - Science - LiveScience. The idea for an eternal clock that would continue to keep time even after the universe ceased to exist has intrigued physicists.
However, no one has figured out how one might be built, until now. Researchers have now proposed an experimental design for a " space-time crystal " that would be able to keep time forever. This four-dimensional crystal would be similar to conventional 3-D crystals, which are structures, such as snowflakes and diamonds, whose atoms are arranged in repeating patterns. Whereas a diamond has a periodic structure in three dimensions, the space-time crystal would be periodic in time as well as space. The idea of a 4-D space-time crystal was first proposed earlier this year by MIT physicist Frank Wilczek, though the concept was purely theoretical. "The electric field of the ion trap holds charged particles in place and Coulomb repulsion causes them to spontaneously form a spatial ring crystal," Zhang said. Science: Crystal time-space clock that may survive heat death of universe - National Holistic Science & Spirit.
Crystals in our quartz watches steadily and accurately keep time in our 3D world but how about extending crystalline attributes to movement in time and space and add a fourth dimension?
An international team of scientists led by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have proposed a process for building an actual four dimensional “space-time crystal” that not only would create an infinitely running clock but a clock that could possibly survive the heat death of the universe. In July 2012, Frank Wilczek, the Nobel-prize winning MIT physicist, mathematically proved that a time crystal can exist but at the time acknowledged his idea on how to create one was incomplete.
Recently, an international team in a paper titled “Space-time crystals of trapped ions.” The Berkeley model proposes a cloud of beryllium ions trapped inside an electromagnetic field that forces them into a circular pattern. And on an alternative side, Dr. Space-time crystal. A space-time crystal or four-dimensional crystal is a theoretical structure periodic in time and space.
It extends the idea of a crystal to four dimensions.[1][2] The idea was proposed by Frank Wilczek in 2012. His speculation was that a construct would have a group of particles that move and periodically return to their original state, perhaps moving in a circle, and form a time crystal. In order for this perpetual motion to work, the system must not radiate its rotational energy.[3] This type of motion is distinct from that of persistent currents in a superconductor, wherein the rotating Cooper pairs are not time crystals because their wave functions are homogenous, meaning time translational symmetry isn't broken.[4] Symmetry would be spontaneously broken in Wilczek's ring system if its ground state still involves continuous movement.
Time Crystals: Perpetual Motion Machines Possible In Nature. From diamonds to snowflakes to salt, crystals are common in nature.
The arrangement of their atoms in orderly, repeating patterns extending in all three spatial dimensions doesn't just make them nice to look at; crystals are also the vital components of technologies from electrical transistors to LCD screens. In groundbreaking new research, Nobel-winning physicist Frank Wilzcek contends that “time crystals,” moving structures that repeat periodically in the fourth dimension, exist as well. A time crystal would be a physical object whose constituent parts move in a repeating pattern. Think of a kaleidoscope, whose sparkly bits swirl on loop forever, or a clock, whose hour hand completes a 360-degree turn every 12 hours.
But unlike clocks or other common objects with moving parts, time crystals would run forever under their own steam — perpetual motion devices permitted by the laws of physics. Many types of time crystals are possible. Space-time-crystal-powered eternal clock could keep time after end of universe. The idea for an eternal clock that would continue to keep time even after the universe ceased to exist has intrigued physicists.
However, no one has figured out how one might be built, until now. Skip to next paragraph Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS ofThe Christian Science MonitorWeekly Digital Edition.