Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Author Spotlight: High-Throughput Screening to Obtain Crystal Hits for Protein Crystallography
Published on: March 10, 2023
Boundary Time Crystals
F Iemini1, A Russomanno1,2, J Keeling3
1ICTP, Strada Costiera 11, 34151 Trieste, Italy.
Abstract:
In this work we introduce boundary time crystals. Here continuous time-translation symmetry breaking occurs only in a macroscopic fraction of a many-body quantum system. After introducing their definition and properties, we analyze in detail a solvable model where an accurate scaling analysis can be performed. The existence of the boundary time crystals is intimately connected to the emergence of a time-periodic steady state in the thermodynamic limit of a many-body open quantum system. We also discuss connections to quantum synchronization.
Related Concept Videos
Areas Within Irregular Boundaries
Ionic Crystal Structures
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...
Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization
Initiating crystallization involves manipulating the concentration of the solute and the temperature of the solution. Since crystal growth occurs when the ratio of concentration and solubility of the solute in the solvent...
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Electrostatic Boundary Conditions
The surface integral of an electric field is given by Gauss's law in integral form and is related to...
Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions

