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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open thread: if there are crystals, maybe bandits will try to steal them

Open thread: if there are crystals, maybe bandits will try to steal them

by Tim F|  February 20, 20125:12 pm| 49 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Time crystals!

Spatial crystals are well studied and well understood. But they raise an interesting question: does the universe allow the formation of similar periodicities in time?

Today, Frank Wilczek at the Massachussettsi Institute of Technology and Al Shapere at the University of Kentucky, discuss this question and conclude that time symmetry seems just as breakable as spatial symmetry at low energies.

This process should lead to periodicities that they call time crystals.

I think that Wilczek and Shapere show some cheek claiming that they thought this up when Time Cube! clearly came first. Or did it? Does before and after even make sense any more? Ow.

Chat about whatever.

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Previous Post: « Tyranny of the Minority
Next Post: Monday Evening Open Thread: Casting Lots »

Reader Interactions

49Comments

  1. 1.

    WereBear

    February 20, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    I want one! Or… I did. Wait, did something just happen?

  2. 2.

    Don K

    February 20, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Definitely on my top-ten list of best movie endings ever.

  3. 3.

    Suffern ACE

    February 20, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Too bad squirrels didn’t eat mastodons, or we might revive the species. Of course, we’d probably be living in utter fear of giant carnivorous squirrels, so there’s a trade-off.

    I am going to bet that the 32,000 year old plant turns out to be a garden choking weed by next fall.

  4. 4.

    Abstruse

    February 20, 2012 at 5:23 pm

    ” Frank Wilczek at the Massachussettsi Institute of Technology ”

    The what?

  5. 5.

    R-Jud

    February 20, 2012 at 5:23 pm

    “One drop of that could turn you all into hermit crabs!”

  6. 6.

    khead

    February 20, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    Open thread = kittehs

    Tunchette.

    Seriously.

    She will cut you. Yeah, you.

  7. 7.

    R-Jud

    February 20, 2012 at 5:27 pm

    @khead: ZOMG, she even has an after-market tail!

  8. 8.

    Yutsano

    February 20, 2012 at 5:27 pm

    So I can haz a TARDIS or no?

  9. 9.

    General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)

    February 20, 2012 at 5:30 pm

    Poll finds most Virginians oppose changes in abortion, gun laws

  10. 10.

    khead

    February 20, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    @R-Jud:

    ZOMG, she even has an after-market tail!

    She will cut you too. :D

    She likes no one.

    Except her Mom.

    And me.

    Maybe.

    On a good day….

  11. 11.

    kerFuFFler

    February 20, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    I remember when my fourth grade son was trying to blow the mind of his first grade younger brother by telling him there was no time “before” the big bang. They argued back and forth until finally the younger brother shook his head and said, “I guess I just don’t understand time—-actually I can’t even read a clock!”

    But his comedic timing was perfect!

  12. 12.

    Rihilism

    February 20, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    Attention BJ overlords. I am trying to modify my “name” from Rihilism to Riilism so that my pseudonym is not associated with that vile creature Santorum who people are now identifying as “Rih”.

    This is not an attempt at sock-puppery or spam. How do I do so without triggering your “bad behavior” filter? Your assistance would be greatly appreciated…

  13. 13.

    BGinCHI

    February 20, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    “Let’s do the time warp, again.”

    OK, now I get that song.

  14. 14.

    Hill Dweller

    February 20, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    Charlie Pierce is on fire today(figuratively speaking). There are too many to link, but he has posted several entries, all good.

  15. 15.

    Jibeaux

    February 20, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    Is that timecube guy the evil twin of Dr. Bronner?

  16. 16.

    trollhattan

    February 20, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    “Little people, hitting each other, that’s what I like!”

    Lurve me some “Time Bandits.”

  17. 17.

    Ken

    February 20, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    @General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero): Then this year will teach Virginians a valuable lesson; that elections do indeed have consequences.

  18. 18.

    khead

    February 20, 2012 at 5:42 pm

    Is it wrong that I called my baby Tunchette because she seems to be too fat to roll over?

  19. 19.

    Riilism

    February 20, 2012 at 5:46 pm

    testing

  20. 20.

    Anne Laurie

    February 20, 2012 at 5:48 pm

    @Rihilism: Best I can tell is, you use the new nym in a comment (repeating this announcement, possibly), you get FYWP’d, one of us lets that comment out of the spam filter, and after that you’re good to go.

    There may be a more technologically sophisticated variant, but Cole gets too many emails, so I’d go with the disposable-comment maneuver if I were you.

  21. 21.

    Riilism

    February 20, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    Am I free of “Rih”

  22. 22.

    Riilism

    February 20, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    Yes, thank goodness, I am…

  23. 23.

    jl

    February 20, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    @Riilism:

    I thought your previous handle, Rihilism(?) referred to a type of time crystal, and had nothing to with Rih Santorum.

  24. 24.

    jl

    February 20, 2012 at 5:59 pm

    @khead:

    Congratulations, and good luck, on your Tunchette.

    Cole has been trying to sell us on the idea that Tunch is a little cream puff, but I remember the pic of Tunch at the vets, strapped down like Gulliver among the Lilliputians, and the vet staff in body armor.

    And, now we read about Tunch’s night raids.

    Try to restrain its growth (Edit: if it is Tunchette, then yeah right, good luck with that), until you determine its intentions. But it IS dang cute.

  25. 25.

    jl

    February 20, 2012 at 6:02 pm

    @khead: Is that Tunchette on white rug, or is it emerging from the greater Tunch entity?

  26. 26.

    Steeplejack

    February 20, 2012 at 6:06 pm

    I think I am caught in one of those time crystals. I came down to Atlanta February 1 for a one-week visit and am only now–really, seriously–going back to NoVa tomorrow. One last Mexican dinner tonight, at El Jinete in Centerville. Highly recommended to you Snellville-Lawrenceville-Stone Mountain locals.

  27. 27.

    Schlemizel

    February 20, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    @Rihilism:
    from past experience it takes a couple postings until they recognize you. When I changed last summer I added “formally known as AlWhite” to help the guys recognize it was me making a change

    ETA – guess I should have read down further – oh well, congrats on the change

  28. 28.

    Schlemizel

    February 20, 2012 at 6:29 pm

    @trollhattan:
    I enjoyed the movie until my local Reagan worshiper explained to me how it was a great conservative film, putting down liberals and supporting whatever BS St. Ronald was spouting at that moment. Sort of spoiled the fun for me.

  29. 29.

    Riilism

    February 20, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    @jl: I wish I were able to come up with a snappy comeback, but you’ve stumped me there…

    Had Rihilism for ten years now, so it’s time for a change and the last thing I was thinking when I came up with Rihilism was the nonsensical utterances of a pompous, self-important, religious troglodyte. Nonsensical utterances, yes. Pompous and self-important, yes. But religious troglodyte? No fricking way…

  30. 30.

    Riilism

    February 20, 2012 at 6:38 pm

    @Schlemizel: Thank you. Luckily, Riilism has always been my back-up in case of “emergency” (and yes, I have far too much time on my hands)….

  31. 31.

    mellowjohn

    February 20, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    You see, to be quite frank, Kevin, the fabric of the universe is far from perfect. It was a bit of botched job, you see. We only had seven days to make it. And that’s where this comes in. This is the only map of all the holes. Well, why repair them? Why not use them to get stinking rich?

  32. 32.

    Regnad Kcin

    February 20, 2012 at 6:51 pm

    @Abstruse:

    An typographical error. S/b: Massachussettsi Institutszki of Technologichkia

    It is in the People’s Repubic of Cambridge, dontcha know

  33. 33.

    Riilism

    February 20, 2012 at 7:01 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Sorry, Ann Laurie, I did not see your assistance because I was so caught up in trial and error just to see what happened and then failed to read the rest of the thread. Thank you.

    There may be a more technologically sophisticated variant, but Cole gets too many emails, so I’d go with the disposable-comment maneuver if I were you.

    Dammit, I just emailed a 50K word screed to Cole decrying the technological limitations of his blog. Attached was an email from a extremely generous Nigerian prince that I thought Cole would appreciate and an email from a friend with a “click me” link in the body of the text that I am unable to to activate (perhaps Cole might have better luck)….

  34. 34.

    Bago

    February 20, 2012 at 7:07 pm

    Strictly speaking, using the periodicity of crystals as a metaphor for time and signal frequencies, it kind of makes sense.

    The structure of a crystal is repetitive, and as you use some form of energy to penetrate the structure it is going to reflect the energy according to the molecular makeup, thus being a wonderful shadow/echo to measure the gaps in the regular crystalline structure.

    This is how we scan things. Like an X-ray.

    Seriously, we are talking about periodicity of signal echo as it goes through the regular geometry of a highly ordered structure, like a crystal.

    Science bitches.

  35. 35.

    lacp

    February 20, 2012 at 7:11 pm

    Fuckin’ time crystals. How do they work?

  36. 36.

    Bago

    February 20, 2012 at 7:14 pm

    I didn’t even use the utterance of periodicity because of Emanences of the term in this article, it’s just the only way left to describe this phenomena.

  37. 37.

    Bago

    February 20, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    @lacp: Seriously, go abstract. By this I mean think about these things in a series of numbers.

    On the Internet, all of your letters are numbers. But that’s not important right now.

    What is important is time, and that defines how you parse a signal,grow organs, etc.

  38. 38.

    Bago

    February 20, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    Ok, that sounds kind of insane, let me explain. You cast energy into probing chunks of bandwith to explore their properties. Sometimes you find out that specific samples have frequency related properties, and make the assumption that agitation of the subject matter is useful for debugging matter. Twist the knob on the em emitter and see what happens. It’s matter and a knob. Let the learning begin.

  39. 39.

    dlnelson

    February 20, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    Since this is an open thread, I have meaning to comment on oil in ND. Perhaps this is not the right one, but I am not a computer person. I drove from Sac to Fargo/Moorhead last summer. I did stay in Dickinson, and my roots are in Mhd and Fgo. On my trek home, there were so many highway projects, which means (gov’t contracts), that means concrete guys, steel guys, road crews, etc. A lot of folks were employed. Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota are being usurped by Haliburton and other oil cos. The hotel I stayed in was almost 200 a night, which is unheard of. The young kids working for these companies are dying and being blown up. The old folks are being misplaced, the rents are going through the roof, the hookers have moved in, and the local police cannot keep up with the 24/7 time tables; people being drunk at 9 am, etc. I get my news from INFORUM, the local Fargo Forum, which is McClatchy. There was a young guy that was 38 who died (he was from Iowa) and his wife pled, do not sent any loved ones there. Apparently, a boiler worker, does not need to be licensed in North Dakota, and kids are dying daily. I would love to have someone who is better at computers than me, and I think I have some MN and ND folks here. This has to stop. The sheriff departments are overloaded, the medics are overloaded, the housing is overloaded, and old people that are renters, are being displaced. Long live the corporations, at any cost. The real kicker might be, the company or companies might insure them. PROFITS PROFITS PROFITS. I miss the old town feel, these folks are evil.

  40. 40.

    dlnelson

    February 20, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    I cannot stick around, I am getting the crud. But I would love to hear from folks that live in MN and ND. The change of life there is dramatic. I will give my e mail to anyone interested. I am sad for ND. I am sad for the workers that die on a daily basis. ND is the perfect place for corporate graft, no limits, no rules. nelson

  41. 41.

    Lojasmo

    February 20, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    @Riilism:

    Yup. Good. Usually folks put theit old handles, parenthetically, behind the new. Yours are so similar, it should not matter.

  42. 42.

    Comrade Mary

    February 20, 2012 at 8:48 pm

    @Riilism:

    Dammit, I just emailed a 50K word screed to Cole decrying the technological limitations of his blog. Attached was an email from a extremely generous Nigerian prince that I thought Cole would appreciate and an email from a friend with a “click me” link in the body of the text that I am unable to to activate (perhaps Cole might have better luck)….

    Piker! I’ve been sending Cole EXCEL SPREADSHEETS. With COMMENTS.

  43. 43.

    redshirt

    February 20, 2012 at 8:58 pm

    Did you know many White Dwarf stars have GIANT diamonds at their center? I mean huge – like as big as the Moon. Imagine your girl with that kind of rock on her finger?!

  44. 44.

    Jimbo316

    February 20, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    @Abstruse: You know that great university in Leutania!

  45. 45.

    Bago

    February 20, 2012 at 9:45 pm

    @Comrade Mary: Let me know when you get to one note.

  46. 46.

    Jimbo316

    February 20, 2012 at 9:50 pm

    @General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero): Probably because increasingly there are two VAs: northern and all the rest. And the area and population of”northern” gets bigger every year. Not all of NVA is Democratic, of course just as not all of the rest of VA is GOP but the State is definitely purple, even in this economy.

  47. 47.

    Paul in KY

    February 21, 2012 at 8:47 am

    @Riilism: Yay! Best wishes.

  48. 48.

    Jay in Oregon

    February 21, 2012 at 12:58 pm

    Time crystals?

    Holy shit, this guy was serious!

    http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/07/24/free-comic-book-day-2009/

  49. 49.

    rdale

    February 21, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    The link to the time cube site was really something. Back about ten years ago there was a volunteer BLM ranger at the takeout for Labyrinth Canyon on the Green River in Utah who lived there alone and whenever you showed up to run a shuttle or leave the river, he would harangue you the whole time about his theory of Magnetronics. “Magnets, man, they rule the world, man!” This site made me think of him…

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