Project 1

Nothing is Crystal Clear about Time Crystals 

moonstar909 "Horsehead Nebula bokeh enhance" 06/23/2009 via flickr.com Attribution Share-Alike 2.0 Generic

    Time Crystals are tiny time transcending particles that may be the next frontier in theoretical physics. When esteemed physicist, Dr. Frank Wilczek, presented his mathematical proof that solidifies the existence of time crystals to his peers at Physical Review Letters he was met with disbelief. This proof went against all conventional knowledge of physics because it verified that time crystals were real and moreover that these crystals are perpetual motion machines. But one physicist, Dr. Bruno, disagreed and created his own mathematical proof in rebuttal. This began the debate over the validity of time crystals. Eventually their existence will be either proved or disproved through experiments done by a University of California, Berkeley team of researchers headed by Xiang Zhang and Tongcang Li.

What are Time Crystals?

What crystals look like in the spatial dimensions. włodi, "Rock salt crystals" 09/24/2004 via flickr.com Attribution Share-Alike 2.0 Generic

          Before we look at time crystals, let’s first examine what a crystal is. Crystals are structures that are composed of minute, geometric shapes that are similar.  When enough of these shapes combine under extreme pressures, they create a structure that becomes a crystal. As these crystals are created, their shapes are part of a system; each system is called a long range order.  The long range order that makes up a crystal is the same system that makes up the theorized time crystal.

A time crystal is a theorized structure that is based off of the same system that creates a crystal. Crystals as we know, exist in the three spatial dimensions: width, length, and height.  On the other hand, time crystals exist in those dimensions as well as a theorized fourth dimension which is time.  Using Dr. Wilczek’s theorem, these time crystals are simple machines; they rotate and spin, but they do so in their lowest energy state. This means that time crystals are moving without losing energy (phys.org) 

How time is represented in dimensional form. Hise, Jason "Cliford-torus" 02/06/2011 via wikimedia.org CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

 Their manipulation of the fourth dimension allows time crystals to transcend time, and inhabit holes where time does not affect them.  For this reason, time crystals will never have to replace the energy lost from friction, air resistance, or gravity because their initial energy is never depleted.  Essentially, a time crystal, is a perpetual motion machine; a machine that never needs energy and could possibly provide infinite amounts of energy.

Find out a bit more about the fourth dimension here.

Who is Involved in the Debate? 

There are two sides of the debate about whether or not time crystals exist.  Attempting to prove the tangibility of time crystals is Dr. Frank Wilczek.  He created the theorem which proves the existence of time crystals. Dr. Wilczek is a professor of physics at MIT and a 2004 Nobel Laureate. Find out more about Dr. Wilczek here.

Zirkel, Kenneth C. "Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek 2007" 04/12/2007 via wikimedia.org Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Also trying to prove the tangibility of time crystals is a team of researchers from University of California, Berkeley.  The team leaders Xiang Zhang and Tongcang Li. These scientists are attempting to create the conditions by using an ion trap in which they can produce a time crystal (nature.com). Xiang Zhang is a professor of mechanical engineering at the university, as well as a material sciences division director at the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory. Tongcang Li earned a Ph.D. from the University of Texas in Austin.  He is currently an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Purdue University. 

McMillin, Michael. "Screenshot of KBentley57" 09/25/15 via blogger.com

Above is the commentator KBentley57 from science.slashdot.org. KBentley57 is one of the few online social media persons to take an interest in this topic when it first came about in 2012. Although, this commentator could not be found on any other social media, or provided any other personal information beyond its username, it is obvious the KBentley57 takes. KBentley 57 is all for the research of time crystals and their possible perpetual motion is very exciting for this commentator.

And on the other side of the debate is Dr. Patrick Bruno, who disagreed with Dr. Wilczek over the validity of time crystals. In response he wrote his own paper titled Impossibility of Spontaneously Rotating Time Crystals: A No-Go Theorem which disproves the existence of time crystals. Dr. Bruno is Head of Theory Group, Experiment Division at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Find out more about Dr. Bruno here.

Haruki Watanabe and Masaki Oshikawa published a paper titled, The Absence of Quantum Time Crystals, in July of 2015 that provided a new definition of time crystals and disproved their existence.  Masaki Oshikawa is a professor in the division of Condensed Matter Theory Institution of Solid State Physics at the University of Tokyo. He has a Ph.D. in Physics. Haruki Watanabe is a Pappalardo fellow at MIT and received his doctorate in Physics at UC Berkley in 2015. 

"Watanabe Haruki" http://web.mit.edu/physics/people/pappalardo/watanabe_haruki.html

Gordon Bonnet is a science fiction writer who wrote a blog post about time crystals in 2013. Nothing can be found on the internet or on his blog about Bonnet's education. Bonnet's position on the debate is that he is against the existence of time crystals because he doesn’t want time crystals to become the center of any ridiculous religious beliefs.

When Did This Happen?

• 2010: Dr. Wilczek gets the idea for quantum time crystals while preparing for class. “I was thinking about the classification of crystals, and then it just occurred to me that it’s natural to think about space and time together,” he said. “So if you think about crystals in space, it’s very natural also to think about the classification of crystalline behavior in time” (quantamagazine.org).

• March 2012: Dr. Wilczek submits his paper, Quantum Time Crystals, to Physical Review Letters for peer review.

• October 15, 2012: Dr. Wilczek’s paper is published. Also, Dr.Patrick Bruno’s comment about the impossibility of time crystals on Dr. Wilczek’s paper is received.

• January 7, 2013: Dr. Wilczek replies to the comment with his own comment.

• March 11, 2013: Both comments are published in the Physical Review Letters. (Find those Dr. Wilczek's comment here and Dr. Bruno's here)

• June 2013: A UC Berkley begins experimenting with an iron trap, hoping to create the conditions for a time crystal to be produced.

• August 14, 2013: Dr. Bruno’s paper is published, Impossibility of Spontaneously Rotating Time Crystals: A No-Go Theorem.

• August 27, 2013: Dr. Wilczek’s paper, Super Fluidity and Space-Time Translation Symmetry Breaking, is published Physical Review Letters and is a response to Dr. Bruno’s theorem.

• June 24, 2015: Haruki Watanabe and Masaki Oshikawa publish their paper, Absence of Quantum Time Crystals, in Physical Review Letters which provided proof of the impossibility of time crystals.

Why is this Important?

A visual representation of what time crystals look like. T. Li et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. (2012) https://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/116

Time crystals are a system of particles that is an incredible breach on modern physics. Time crystals if proven to exist could be the definitive evidence of a new dimension beyond the ones that effect the physical universe. The laws of modern physics would change drastically because these laws only account for the physical universe which may be a small fraction of what the universe can offer. Next, the existence of time crystals opens up the possibility for the existence of a perpetual motion machine.  This type machine is impossible under the current laws of physics which would again force modern physics to expand its laws to account for the new sectors of the universe. Finally, this research into subatomic systems is providing the necessary theoretical research for developers to use in the next generation of technology.  Constant research and trying to push the boundaries is necessary for science to move forward. Whether or not time crystals are proven to exist, the data will still be valuable for physicists because it provides more evidence for either the laws of thermodynamics or the existence of a fourth dimension.  

What’s the Future Hold for the Debate?

The future of time crystals has been squashed. The Haruki Watanabe and Masaki Oshikawa adapted the definition of time crystals to be possible and then created a No-Go theorem that proved the definition to be invalid. Because the definition was proved invalid, there is no evidence that time crystals exist. Recently, at UC Berkley, an iron trap was developed in the hopes of possibly studying time crystals. Early experiments at Berkley failed to produce evidence proving the existence of time crystals.  In the future, researchers hope to use this new ion field to produce the evidence necessary that time crystals do, in fact, exist (research.physics.berkeley.edu). 

The new ion trap desgin being used by researchers at UC Berkeley "Ions in Sombero Potential" http://research.physics.berkeley.edu/haeffner/research/ring-trap/ring-trap.html

In conclusion, time crystals are still a highly theoretical system. The idea of a long range order existing in the fourth dimension is a 21^st century idea. A time crystal has never been thought of or discovered. And like alien life, it may never be discovered. In retrospect, little is known about the universe but physicists like Dr. Wilczek, Dr. Bruno, and the countless other researchers that worked on this subject are pushing the boundaries of our knowledge about the universe to its limits. Time crystals are worth being researched and theorized about because they potentially hold the key to understanding the fourth dimension, while providing the opportunity to discover brand new landscapes that were once invisible to us.