Review of recent advances in continuous time crystals
The symmetry of time translation implies that a system's dynamical properties remain invariant under temporal changes.A time crystal is a special non-equilibrium phase of a many-body system,characterized by periodic oscillations in time due to the spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry.Based on the type of spontaneous symmetry breaking,time crystals can be categorized into discrete time crystals and continuous time crystals.Recently,spontaneous breaking of continuous time translation symmetry has been observed in systems with time-independent Hamiltonians,including ultracold atom-cavity systems,erbium-doped ion systems,Rydberg atoms,and nuclear spins in solid-state environments.This paper reviews recent experimental advancements in continuous time crystals,providing insights into their properties and potential applications.
spontaneous breaking of symmetryspontaneous breaking of continuous time translation symmetrycontinuous time crystal