Time Crystals

A time-crystal or a space-crystal is basically an open system which shows time translation symmetry breaking (TTSB).

• The concept was first proposed by the Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek in 2012. He put forward that a time crystal can spontaneously break the symmetry of time translation.
• They are related to the concepts of zero-point energy and dynamic Casimir effect.
• Time crystals are said to show topological order which is an emergent phenomenon in which correlations between two particles which act in an entangled system are encoded in a whole wave-function. This also factors in any possible fault tolerance against perturbations. This actually makes them stable for all decoherence effects.

The possibility of their existence opens many new horizons in the field of science and time crystals now join the league of other exotic states of matter like superconductors, quantum-spin liquids and superfluids.