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Comment by haveananswer | Hacker News Reader

Totally out of my element here, I read: "Ordinary crystals such as salt or quartz are examples of three-dimensional, ordered spatial crystals. Their atoms are arranged in a repeating system, something scientists have known for a century." Do we know why "time crystals" are structured differently? Does this structure have any implications for our understanding of how atoms can be arranged or is this already well documented? I see in the article the potential applications of this in "clocks, gyroscopes, and magnetometers" but I'm wondering if there are further implications just in our understanding of the universe.

(Sorry that may be a bit vague)

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As far as I know, there are no implications for how physical structures are organized in space (e.g. spatial crystal lattices). The signatures we've observed were in a crystal with a very well-characterized lattice structure, and could be observed in systems with different geometries as well (i.e., we didn't have to go out of our way to find a "special" crystal lattice).

Ah, that makes sense. Given that the term "time crystal" seems to conjure up images of physical objects that exhibit supernatural characteristics, is there a more specific term you'd think would be more accurate for describing what it is you're observing?

Chronocrystal? Chronal?

Since it moves: something with warp, then you put the warp ice in the warp drive.

You're right that the terminology has been tricky to contend with, although it's hard to say what a 'least-confusing' name would be. Other names for the phenomenon include "Pi spin glass" and "Floquet time crystal," neither of which seem to definitely avoid any confusion. The accounts of these phenomena are becoming more clear over time, which will help, but given the name and the images often used in the press, I understand why it can come across as fantastical.

>You're right that the terminology has been tricky to contend with, although it's hard to say what a 'least-confusing' name would be.

"Chrystal with periodically re-arranged structure"?

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