TIME CRYSTAL: A NEW 4-D MATTER

 BY: Arjit Mishra

The act of Modification of theories into facts is ,always in continuation and will continue in future. The biggest prophecies of Theoretical Physics like- Einstein's gravitational waves, Higgs Boson, etc. have came into being by experimentation. Recently Scientists have discovered a new and rare state of matter, which was first theorized in 2012 but the theory was unfortunately rejected.

This new state of matter is often called Time Crystal. The interesting fact is that the Atomic state of this state of matter repeats in space-time, which means Time crystals are 4-dimensional objects. Till now we have only examined 3-D matter but in today's Blog I will describe a 4-D Matter.

What are Time Crystals ?

Before I will explain you the concept of Time Crystals, firstly we should know about crystals :

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. simple examples are-Diamond and pieces of ice.

if we observe Atomic structures of simple 3-Dimensional crystals, we can say that they repeat their arrangement to some extent in space but Time doesn't effect it's arrangement. which means if we observe a diamond now and observe it again after few hours their would be no change in it's Atomic arrangement.

Now coming to Time Crystals: In case of Time Crystals atoms not only repeat their arrangement in space but also in Time and because of which their shape changes every time on it's own without any force and they always remain in perpetual motion, They can't attain thermal equilibrium state because they are non-equilibrium metals, very much different from simple theory crystals.

How Time Crystals Work ?

Normal Matter: Suppose we have a simple crystal in which atoms repeats their arrangement over space. If we provide some energy from external source then the energy would flow adjacently in the atoms till all the atoms attain thermal equilibrium which is often called Zero point state, In this state heat is equally divided among all the atoms and thus in most of the cases they don't have enough energy to cause motion because of which they stops.

 for understanding this in a more simpler way let us take an example- when we kick a football, it stays in motion for few seconds and eventually stops but football in state of rest can't come to the state of motion on it's own.

Non-Equilibrium Matter: In case of Time Crystals, Atoms in Quantum Entanglement are arranged in repeated patterns. So as the Energy reaches an Entangled particle it's entangled pair came to know about it instantaneously (independent to the distance between them) and before energy actually reaches to the entangled pair, it starts to react because of which all particles come into the state of motion and this reaction exists perpetually that's why the Time Crystals can't attain the state of Thermal Equilibrium and show movement even in their lowest energy state.

 [If you don't know about Quantum Entanglement visit- Theoarmi ].

Idea behind Time Crystals ?

In 2012 noble prize winner Frank Wilczek thought of a crystal which breaks time translation symmetry. Time Translation symmetry says that "Laws of Physics are applied equally in all the places of UNIVERSE and in all the times which have ever existed." Till many years we have believed that symmetry is always same in Laws of nature but eventually we came to know that Deviation occurs in the symmetry of Laws of Nature. Some object breaks this symmetry by staying in their ground state without breaking the laws of physics. Frank thought that if symmetry breaks in the space then it should also break in Time. He imagined a crystal which could break the symmetry in time that's how Time crystal was Discovered but theory of time crystal was approximately same as the theory perpetual motion machines which can work till eternity without any Energy. According to physics laws these machines can't be invented in reality that's why theory of Time Crystal was also rejected. Later on scientists corrected and modified this theory with help of Quantum Entanglement and Non-Equilibrium metals. With the help of two different experiments scientists have made Time crystals in a Lab.

How can they be useful in future ?

Time crystals could be useful in Quantum Computing, Physicists can use these Time crystals to build stable Quantum system which would work efficiently even on higher temperatures. Discovery of Time crystal is just an initiation, what would happen in the future would be amazing!

"You will always have time for what you make time for"