Physicists Propose "Perpetual Motion" Time Crystals 153
First time accepted submitter b30w0lf writes "It is commonly understood that crystals exist in a state of matter that is periodic in space. Meanwhile, relativistic physics tells us that we should think of time as being a physical dimension, given similar status to the other spacial dimensions. The combination of these two ideas has lead researchers at the University of Kentucky and MIT to propose special manifestations of matter which would be periodic in both space and time, dubbed 'time crystals.' Time crystals would continually transition between a set of physical states in a kind of perpetual motion. Note: the articles stress that this kind of perpetual motion in no way violates the established laws of thermodynamics. While time crystals remain theoretical, methods have been proposed for creating them. The most obvious application of time crystals is the creation of very precise clocks; however, other applications to time crystals have been proposed, ranging from quantum computing to helping us understand certain cosmological models."
They do not propose "Perpetual Motion" (Score:5, Informative)
You can't read it (without other power) (Score:4, Informative)
One key point that makes it not a free energy machine is that you can't actually read it or otherwise do anything useful with it (nor can it do anything) without spending extra external energy.
And in any normal situation, like sitting in a room on Earth, you might even have to spend energy keeping it undisturbed by things like thermal jostling (i.e., cooled to near absolute zero).
Re:They do not propose "Perpetual Motion" (Score:3, Informative)
Re:time is not a dimension (Score:2, Informative)
oh, so now dimensions with the other sign are called codimensions. Got it.
Not sure what textbook that came out of, I've never seen that convention before.
Re:time is not a dimension (Score:4, Informative)
Links please!
Conversely, for those interested in the other half of the equation -- namely understanding the spatial dimension -- a new paradigm such as bivectors, trivectors, antiscalar, wedge product is necessary.
A Bigger Mathematical Picture for Computer Graphics (Eric Lengyel)
http://www.terathon.com/wscg12_lengyel.pdf [terathon.com]
A Unified Language for Mathematics and Physics
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.134.6311&rep=rep1&type=pdf [psu.edu]
Clifford Algebra and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/planet/planet/Numerical_Relativity/Geometric_Algebra/caiqm.pdf [montgomerycollege.edu]
The Unified Family of all physical quantities
http://www.naturics.eu/?page_id=1068 [naturics.eu]
Re:They do not propose "Perpetual Motion" (Score:4, Informative)
That is literally the meaning of perpetual motion. What they don't claim is free energy.
Re:It's like Seinfeld. (Score:2, Informative)
you blew it... Sine Field