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Quantum physics

Time crystals

Nature volume 493, pages 166–167 (2013)Cite this article

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Physicists have come up with the mind-boggling concept of a time crystal. This intriguing proposal, which is based on the notion of broken time-translation symmetry, might open up a whole new field of research.

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Figure 1: Periodicities in space and time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Piers Coleman is in the Center for Materials Theory, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8019, USA.,

    Piers Coleman

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  1. Piers Coleman
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Correspondence to Piers Coleman.

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Coleman, P. Time crystals. Nature 493, 166–167 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/493166a

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