Related papers: Grand-mother clocks and quiet lasers
Weakly coupled oscillators adjust their dynamics to work in unison: they synchronize. This ubiquitous phenomenon is observed for oscillating pendulum, electronic devices, as well as clapping crowds or flashing fireflies. In effect,…
The thermodynamic uncertainty relation expresses a seemingly universal trade-off between the cost for driving an autonomous system and precision in any output observable. It has so far been proven for discrete systems and for overdamped…
In 1665, Christiaan Huygens reported the observation of the synchronization of two pendulum clocks hanged on the wall of his workshop. After synchronization, the clocks swung exactly in the same frequency and $180^{o}$ out of phase --…
Starting from the observation that the simplest form of forced mechanical oscillation serves as a standard model for analyzing a broad variety of resonance processes in many fields of physics and engineering, the remarkably slow development…
We investigate an optomechanical system as a model of an autonomous mechanical pendulum clock in the quantum regime, whose operation relies only on incoherent (thermal) resources. The escapement of the clock, the mechanism that translates…
We study two models of connected pendulum clocks synchronizing their oscillations, a phenomenon originally observed by Huygens. The oscillation angles are assumed to be small so that the pendulums are modeled by harmonic oscillators, clock…
We analyze the dynamics of a driven, damped pendulum as used in mechanical clocks. We derive equations for the amplitude and phase of the oscillation, on time scales longer than the pendulum period. The equations are first order ODEs and…
Small amplitude oscillations are a commonly observed feature in prominences/filaments. These oscillations appear to be of local nature, are associated to the fine structure of prominence plasmas, and simultaneous flows and counterflows are…
Forced oscillation of a system composed of two pendulums coupled by a spring in the presence of damping is investigated. In the steady state and within the small angle approximation we solve the system equations of motion and obtain the…
The problem of damping a system of linear oscillators is considered. The problem is solved by using a control in the form of dry friction. The motion of the system under the control is governed by a system of differential equations with…
This paper investigates the synchronization of three identical oscillators, or clocks, suspended from a common rigid support. We consider scenarios where each clock interacts with the other two, achieving synchronization through small…
We introduce an interaction mechanism between oscillators leading to exact anti-phase and in-phase synchronization. This mechanism is applied to the coupling between two nonlinear oscillators with a limit cycle in phase space, leading to a…
In 1665, Huygens observed that two pendulum clocks hanging from the same board became synchronized in antiphase after hundreds of swings. On the other hand, modern experiments with metronomes placed on a movable platform show that they…
In classical physics, clocks are open dissipative systems driven from thermal equilibrium and necessarily subject to thermal noise. We describe a quantum clock driven by entropy reduction through measurement. The mechanism consists of a…
Many damped mechanical systems oscillate with increasing frequency as the amplitude decreases. One popular example is Euler's Disk, where the point of contact rotates with increasing rapidity as the energy is dissipated. We study a simple…
When identifying instruments that have had great influence on the history of physics, none comes to mind more quickly than the pendulum. Though 'birthed' by Galileo in the 16th century, and in some respects nearly 'dead' by the middle of…
The synchronization of two pendulum clocks hanging from a wall was first observed by Huygens during the XVII century. This type of synchronization is observed in other areas, and is fundamentally different from the problem of two clocks…
Although "friction" is included in many models of oscillator damping, including viscous ones applied to the pendulum; they "miss the mark" with regard to a conceptual understanding of the mechanisms responsible for energy loss. The theory…
Circadian oscillation provides selection advantages through synchronization to the daylight cycle. However, a reliable clock must be designed through two conflicting properties: entrainability to synchronize internal time with periodic…
Optical clocks based on atoms and ions probe relativistic effects with unprecedented sensitivity by resolving time dilation due to atom motion or different positions in the gravitational potential through frequency shifts. However, all…