Ramblings of an old Doc
Motion without energy...
Published on January 29, 2017 By DrJBHL In Life, the Universe and Everything

 

An incredible concept...but "four years after they were first proposed, scientists have managed to add a fourth dimension - the movement of time - to a crystal for the first time, giving it the ability to act as a kind of perpetual 'time-keeper'." 

The concept is explained in the linked article, as well as here: http://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-just-created-the-world-s-first-time-crystal 

"They did this by chaining together a line of ytterbium ions with spins that interact with each other, and holding them in an out-of-equilibrium state. This forced the quantum ions to become 'localised' in a specific space, and therefore influenced by time.

Using a laser, the team could then start changing the spin of specific ytterbium ions, and by flipping the spin of one ion, it caused the next one to flip, and so on down the chain, until every ion was oscillating. 

Once the laser had been used to set the first one off, the oscillation was perpetual, and over time, the researchers noticed something strange.

As Tech Review explains:

"These guys discovered that after allowing the system to evolve, the interactions occurred at a rate that was twice the original period. Since there is no driving force with that period, the only explanation is that the time symmetry must have been broken, thereby allowing these longer periods. In other words, [they] had created a time crystal."

To be clear, we’re not talking about perpetual motion machines here, because by definition, there is no energy in these systems.

But it does demonstrate that time crystals can occur in a real, physical system, and the team says that they could help us solve the problem of quantum memory - that is, how to retain information in the future generation of quantum computers.


So, why is this important, or even significant...because this will help solve the problem of memory in quantum computers....

Simply amazing.



Comments
on Jan 30, 2017


Simply amazing.

Absolutely!!!  Brilliant!!!  What will they think of next?

on Jan 30, 2017

   Ok...this one got me. I'm over at phys.org reading up on symmetries. I know a little bit about it and its a no-brainer that if you remove all energy from a system everything comes to a standstill, equilibrium. In a superconducter cooled to near absolute zero all motion stops, electrons do not move. They used yttrebium ions, atoms stripped of their electrons, lined up in what they called a 'conga line'. Two lasers were used to 'excite' one ion, changing its spin properties. This change then propagated down the line. Not unusual as they were all 'entangled', meaning that these ions shared similar properties, being created at the same time. 

    In a crystal lattice all atoms are in lockstep, they all face the same direction, like a magnet. Magnets are natural symmetry breakers in that one side is positive, the other negative. But magnets have energy in them, duh. Crystals have none unless they are acted upon. Certain crystals, when sqeezed, produce piezoelectricity. You're forcing the atoms to contract, electrons jump to a different energy state and emit a photon in the process. 

   In the beginning of the article they mention ions. Put enough of them together and you got plasma, a very high energy state of matter. Individual ions in a 'line' retain the same properties of the plasma but on a minute scale. On that scale you're able to measure the different properties. This is quantum scale and there things get weird. In a nutshell you can't know anything about anything unless you're lookin' at it! Taking some kind of measurement. 

   Everyone knows that a line represents one dimension but...there are actually two dimensions. We live in a three dimensional world, length height and depth. We also have another dimension...time. We live in four dimensions, three physical, one temporal. So if you have length you still have time because it always takes a finite amount of time to traverse the line, move along it. Now keeping in mind that ions on a larger scale represents a plasma. That plasma still exists along that line, ions are particles and particles share a dual nature. They are both particle and wave at the same time. That's only because they whiz around so fast in such a tiny area that all you see is a blur. If you want to see what's making it you have to look at it (don't blame me, blame Heisenberg). In order for you to see it a photon has to hit it and bounce back to your eye. Photons are light and that lets you see stuff. 

   Lasers are basically high energy beams of light. Lets label it...A. Lets label the first ion B. A hits B and starts it vibrating, oscillating. Next to ion B is ion C and down the line to n. The wave function of each interferes with the other and it propagates (read 'grows') another no-brainer. My theory is this...all things that are at equilibrium have potential, meaning this is what they can do with what they have, Einstein said so. I think that each ion's potential is added to the potential of the one next to it and so on down the 'line'. At the end of the line that potential has to go somewhere to conserve energy. So where's it gonna go? To the first one in the line because...there ain't no more after the end. That's why they say it's perpetual. It just keeps on going. The only energy that does exist is the energy you first put into it.

   As far beaking time symmetry...there are two measurements that were made, Planck distance and Planck time. They represent the smallest measurable values of time and distance. All particles do their thing 'inside of' these two values. The interaction between the ions have to take place 'inside of', even the one at the end of the line. The pulse or nudge as it was called in the article, has to move all the way back to the first 'inside of' these values. So...ergo...time symmetery is broken, kinda. There's still that 'finite' amount of time to do all that. But because of the scale of the system this would appear to take no time at all. The only problem I see is that once the laser is turned off the system will revert back to equilibrium, or it should because you're not putting anything more into it.

   To make a too long story very short...perpetual motion is not allowed according to our present understanding of how things work. Breaking time symmetry IMO simply means that you're able to control each moment before and after, cause and effect, at the same time.

*uvah's physics 101*     

 

on Jan 30, 2017

New avatar's great.  Thanks, Doc.

on Jan 30, 2017


 To make a too long story very short...perpetual motion is not allowed according to our present understanding of how things work. Breaking time symmetry IMO simply means that you're able to control each moment before and after, cause and effect, at the same time.

"To be clear, we’re not talking about perpetual motion machines here, because by definition, there is no energy in these systems." - http://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-just-created-the-world-s-first-time-crystal


on Jan 30, 2017

Daiwa

New avatar's great.  Thanks, Doc.

Which avatar are you seeing, Daiwa? The old guy or Spock Grumpy Cat?

on Jan 30, 2017

Spock Grumpy Cat - awesome.

on Jan 30, 2017

I read the full article Doc. The only energy would be what it already has whether or not it had to be started. And it was started by using lasers on the ions. The power of the laser caused the oscillations and it just kept on going even after the laser was turned off.

on Jan 30, 2017

Daiwa

Spock Grumpy Cat - awesome.

Thanks...and weird, because I still see the old one. Guess it's time to clear the cache. 

*edit: Done and fixed.

 

@Uvah: It's asymmetric matter...at ground state, it still had "motion" in the time axis.

on Jan 30, 2017

"If I Could Save Time In A Bottle"

Okay, a slightly different principle, but in a way, that's what these scientists have done with the creation of these crystals.  I don't understand the science of it all [well above my pay grade] but it's amazing stuff.

on Jan 30, 2017

DrJBHL

it still had "motion" in the time axis.

Yup and the time axis is the same for each of the ions. Motion requires some kind of input to get it going. Any system standing still, in equilibrium, has potential or rest energy. The time axis provides the only outlet as time itself is infinite. The length of the 'line' is finite and in the quantum world that's no distance at all. The oscillation happens everywhere within the lattice all at the same time. Don't forget...the ions are entangled or otherwise connected in some way.