A team of researchers claims that they have discovered a potential 'time crystal' that could operate as a source of perpetual motion, an idea previously rejected by physicists. The team has published their findings in the journal Nature and made the discovery by utilising Google's Sycamore quantum computing hardware.
The time crystal is made up of a continuously repeating pattern of atoms, just like ordinary crystals, but instead ,this crystal has an infinitely repeating change, meaning it doesn't require energy entering or leaving in order to operate.
The second law of thermodynamics has always said that perpetual motion, motion that continues or increases without extra-input, was impossible. However, as the time crystal is a closed body and its entropy doesn't increase it is, in fact, physically possible.
Even if such a time-crystal doesn't actually create infinite perpetual motion, the technology could be used for energy production in the future, and in time completely change the way we live our lives.
Stanford University physicist Matteo Ippoliti, said of the discovery:
"The big picture is that we are taking the devices that are meant to be the quantum computers of the future and thinking of them as complex quantum systems in their own right. Instead of computation, we're putting the computer to work as a new experimental platform to realize and detect new phases of matter."
While everyday life is dominated by entropy, simple systems becoming more complex systems, such as a falling glass breaking into a million little pieces, on the quantum level, the level of the very small sub-atomic particles, this is not always necessarily true.
Stanford theoretical physicist Vedika Khemani, elaborated:
"Time-crystals are a striking example of a new type of non-equilibrium quantum phase of matter. While much of our understanding of condensed matter physics is based on equilibrium systems, these new quantum devices are providing us a fascinating window into new non-equilibrium regimes in many-body physics."
Roderich Moessner of the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems explained how the Google supercomputer had assisted in this discovery, saying:
"It essentially told us how to correct for its own errors, so that the fingerprint of ideal time-crystalline behavior could be ascertained from finite time observations."
[Based on reporting by: science alert]
COMMENTS