Related papers: Measuring Time with Minimal Clocks
The circadian clocks keeping time of day in many living organisms rely on self-sustained biochemical oscillations which can be entrained by external cues, such as light, to the 24-hour cycle induced by Earth rotation. However, environmental…
According to thermodynamics, the inevitable increase of entropy allows the past to be distinguished from the future. From this perspective, any clock must incorporate an irreversible process that allows this flow of entropy to be tracked.…
The notion of time is given a different footing in Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, treated as a parameter in the former and being an observer dependent property in the later. From a operational point of view time is simply the…
Continuous clocks, i.e. the clocks that measure time in a continuous manner, are regarded as an essential component of sensing technology. Precision and recurrence time are two basic features of continuous clocks. In this paper, in the…
The gene networks that comprise the circadian clock modulate biological function across a range of scales, from gene expression to performance and adaptive behaviour. The clock functions by generating endogenous rhythms that can be…
We investigate a model of a supposedly ideal clock based on the decay rate of a charged particle in circular motion in a constant magnetic field. We show that the time measured by an ideal clock depends on the acceleration. However, the…
Creating precise timing devices at ultra-short time scales is not just an important technological challenge, but confronts us with foundational questions about timekeeping's ultimate precision limits. Research on clocks has either focused…
Precise and autonomous clocks are of fundamental interest and central importance to both foundational studies and practical applications. Here, we construct a blueprint for a quantum clock governed by time-independent interactions. By…
Circadian rhythms are acquired through evolution to increase the chances for survival through synchronizing with the daylight cycle. Reliable synchronization is realized through two trade-off properties: regularity to keep time precisely,…
To estimate the time, many organisms, ranging from cyanobacteria to animals, employ a circadian clock which is based on a limit-cycle oscillator that can tick autonomously with a nearly 24h period. Yet, a limit-cycle oscillator is not…
We consider the situation in which an observer internal to an isolated system wants to measure the total energy of the isolated system (this includes his own energy, that of the measuring device and clocks used, etc...). We show that he can…
A general definition of a clock is proposed, and the role of clocks in establishing temporal pre-conditions in quantum mechanical questions is critically discussed. The different status of clocks as used by theorists external to a system…
Statistical estimation theory determines the optimal way of estimating parameters of a fluctuating noisy signal. However, if the estimation is performed on unreliable hardware, a sub-optimal estimation procedure can outperform the…
The measurement of time durations or instants of ocurrence of events has been frequently modelled ``operationally'' by coupling the system of interest to a ``clock''. According to several of these models the operational approach is limited…
The problem of the Nature of Time is twofold: whether or not time is a fundamental quantity of Nature, and how does clock time of metrology emerge in the experimental description of dynamics. This work strongly supports the fundamental…
There are many different types of time keeping devices. We use the phrase ticking clock to describe those which -- simply put -- "tick" at approximately regular intervals. Various important results have been derived for ticking clocks, and…
Time crystals are quantum many-body systems which are able to self-organize their motion in a periodic way in time. Discrete time crystals have been experimentally demonstrated in spin systems. However, the first idea of spontaneous…
From a thermodynamic point of view, all clocks are driven by irreversible processes. Additionally, one can use oscillatory systems to temporally modulate the thermodynamic flux towards equilibrium. Focusing on the most elementary…
Recent measurements of durations of non-equilibrium processes provide valuable information on microscopic mechanisms and energetics. Comprehensive theory for corresponding experiments so far is well developed for single-particle systems…
Time measured by an ideal clock crucially depends on the gravitational potential and velocity of the clock according to general relativity. Technological advances in manufacturing high-precision atomic clocks have rapidly improved their…