When electricity passes through a quartz crystal, a pulse is generated, according to which the clock can be adjusted. On the other hand, having begun to melt the crystal of time, one can penetrate the deepest secrets of the Universe.
A team of researchers in Japan has shown that the quantum foundations of particles, arranged like time crystals, could theoretically be used to represent some rather complex networks, from the human brain to the Internet, as they break down.
“In the classical world, this would not have been possible, since it would have required a huge amount of computing power,” says Martha Estarellas, a quantum computing engineer at the National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Tokyo.
“We are not only offering a new way to represent and understand quantum processes, but also a new way of looking at quantum computers.”
Since they were first theoretically described in 2012 by Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek, time crystals have challenged the very foundations of physics.
The version of the new state of matter is suspiciously similar to perpetual motion – the particles are periodically rearranged, without consuming or losing energy, repeating themselves in time.
This is because the thermal energy shared by their constituent atoms cannot exactly come into equilibrium with the background.
It's a bit like a hot cup of tea that stays a little hotter than the environment no matter how long it is on your table. Only, since the energy in these ticking clumps of matter cannot be used elsewhere, the theory of time crystals avoids violating any physical laws.
Just a few years ago, experimental physicists successfully positioned the line of ytterbium ions in such a way that, when illuminated by a laser, their entangled electron spins would go out of equilibrium in this way.
Similar behavior has been observed in other materials, which has provided new insights into how quantum interactions can develop in entangled particle systems.
Knowing that there is a time crystal-like behavior is good. The next question is: can we use their uniqueness for something practical?
In a new study, using a set of tools to map potential changes in the location of the time crystal (as shown in the video below), the researchers showed how the discrete destruction of the time crystal device – melting it – mimics a category of highly complex networks.
“This type of network is not regular or random, but contains non-trivial topological structures found in many biological, social and technological systems,” the researchers wrote in their report.
Simulating such a complex system on a supercomputer can require impractically long periods of time and a significant amount of equipment and energy, if at all possible.
Quantum computing, however, is based on a completely different way of doing computation – using the mathematics of the probability inherent in states of matter called 'qubits' before measurement.
The right combination of qubits, arranged as time crystals swinging back and forth, could represent signals traveling through huge networks of neurons, quantum relationships between molecules, or computers communicating with each other around the world.
“Using this multi-qubit method, you can simulate a complex network the size of the entire global Internet,” says NII theoretical physicist Kae Nemoto.
Applying what we’re learning about time crystals to this evolving form of technology could give us a whole new way of mapping and modeling anything from new drugs to future communications.
Be that as it may, we hardly touch the potential of this new state of matter. Based on research like this, we can be confident that time is on our side when it comes to the future of quantum computing.
The research is published in the journal Science Advances.
