Related papers: Registering Seconds with a Conic Clock
The phenomenal rotational stability of millisecond pulsars allows them to be used as precise celestial clocks. An array of these pulsars can be exploited to search for correlated perturbations in their pulse times of arrival due to…
This paper addresses the numerical computation of critical angles between two convex cones in finite-dimensional Euclidean spaces. We present a novel approach to computing these critical angles by reducing the problem to finding stationary…
Materials for time measurement represent a new class of functional materials, that can be used to fabricate a variety of devices useful for industrial applications, like for example the shelf-life indicators, solid-state chronometers,…
Being able to measure time, whether directly or indirectly, is a significant advantage for an organism. It allows for the timely reaction to regular or predicted events, reducing the pressure for fast processing of sensory input. Thus,…
We describe how geometrical methods can be applied to a system with explicitly time-dependent second-class constraints so as to cast it in Hamiltonian form on its physical phase space. Examples of particular interest are systems which…
The passage of time is tracked by counting oscillations of a frequency reference, such as Earth's revolutions or swings of a pendulum. By referencing atomic transitions, frequency (and thus time) can be measured more precisely than any…
A method of measuring time intervals by a single observer proposed by Crowell is extended to the more general case when the events separated by the time interval take place at two points characterized by the same y=y' space coordinates. We…
Timescales spanning 24 orders of magnitude smaller than one second can be studied experimentally, and each range is packed with different physical phenomena. This rich range of timescales offers a great context for an innovative…
The asymmetry in the time delay for light rays propagating on opposite sides of a spinning body is analyzed. A frequency shift in the perceived signals is found. A practical procedure is proposed for evidencing the asymmetry, allowing for a…
We present some formulae for the moments of inertia of homogeneous solids of revolution in terms of the functions that generate the solids. The development of these expressions exploits the cylindrical symmetry of these objects, and avoids…
The asymmetry in the time delay for light rays propagating on opposite sides of a spinning body is analyzed. A frequency shift in the perceived signals is found. A practical procedure is proposed for evidencing the asymmetry, allowing for a…
We study the motion of a charged quantum particle, constrained on the surface of a cylinder, in the presence of a radial magnetic field. When the spin of the particle is neglected, the system essentially reduces to an infinite family of…
According to general relativity, clocks are the basic measuring devices needed to probe spacetime geometry. However, it is generally accepted that the mass of clocks capable of measuring small time intervals must be bounded from below. In…
A quantum clock cannot be modeled as a point mass moving along a single geodesic if it is in a state with nonzero position fluctuations. Instead, it is an extended object subject to tidal forces and a superposition of time dilations at…
We propose that physical time is based on counting the oscillations of wave functions. The discrete counting of the ticks of these clocks does not depend on the metric frame. It remains well defined for the beginning epochs of the universe.…
One of the best ways to measure low-frequency eigenmode oscillations of the Earth is to monitor a simple pendulum responding to tilt. A theoretical basis for the method is given, by investigating a particular, well-known standing wave-the…
We outline a mission with the aim of directly detecting the gravitomagnetic field of the Earth. This mission is called Gravity Probe C. Gravity Probe C(lock) is based on a recently discovered and surprisingly large gravitomagnetic clock…
This article revisits the historiography of the problem of inertial frames. Specifically, the case of the twins in the clock paradox is considered to see that some resolutions implicitly assume inertiality for the non-accelerating twin. If…
The motion of a simple pendulum in a uniform gravitational field can be described by the solution of a second-order differential equation, nonlinear differential equation. In practice we solve this equation using the small angle…
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…