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aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

Google, allegedly, has done something. Story at SlashGear [slashgear.com].

Google’s quantum computer has been used to build a “time crystal” according to freshly-published research, a new phase of matter that upends the traditional laws of thermodynamics. Despite what the name might suggest, however, the new breakthrough won’t let Google build a time machine.

Time crystals were first proposed in 2012, as systems that continuously operate out of equilibrium. Unlike other phases of matter, which are in thermal equilibrium, time crystals are stable yet the atoms which make them up are constantly evolving.

At least, that’s been the theory: scientists have disagreed on whether such a thing was actually possible in reality. Different levels of time crystals that could or could not be generated have been argued, with demonstrations of some that partly – but not completely – meet all the relevant criteria. In a new research preprint [arxiv.org] by researchers at Google, along with physicists at Princeton, Stanford, and other universities, it’s claimed that Google’s quantum computer project has delivered what many believed impossible. Preprints are versions of academic papers that are published prior to going through peer-review and full publishing; as such, their findings can be challenged or even overturned completely during that review process.

It's only a model.

Original Submission