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The physics behind Measuring time

Associate Professor Andre Luiten was awarded a The first type of clock9 we’re building is based on a piece of
PhD in 1996. For his PhD project he built the world’s sapphire crystal about the size of your fist, cooled down to
best clock based on a cryogenically cooled sapphire 40 °C above absolute zero. With this clock we can measure
crystal. The performance of the clock means that time with an accuracy of just one second in three hundred
it will only be in error by a second over 100 million million years. But for us this still isn’t good enough. So now
years. The Australian Institute of Physics awarded we’re trying to build a new type of clock based on light
him the 1997 Bragg Medal for Physics for this and atoms that have been cooled to within a few millionths
research. In 1998 he built the world’s best atomic of a degree of absolute zero. We predict that we should be
clock in collaboration with the Observatory of Paris. able to measure time with an accuracy of ten to a hundred
Comparisons between his sapphire and atomic clocks times better than with the sapphire crystal.
have yielded the most sensitive tests ever performed
But you might ask why we’re building these super accurate
on Einstein’s special theory of relativity.
clocks. Well, they find use in systems like communications,
The following text is a transcript of the video, radar and global positioning satellites systems, all of which
Measuring time, in which Andre describes motivations could be improved if they incorporated our super accurate
for his research. clock. At a more fundamental level we’re interested in
subjecting the laws of physics to the greatest scrutiny
Superscript numbers in the text (eg relativity1) refer
that they’ve ever been put under. For example, I told
to the explanatory notes that follow.
you earlier about how there was a conflict between
relativity and quantum mechanics. One of the outcomes
Measuring time of that conflict is that the laws of physics might not be
the same depending on where you are when you make
There are two great theories of physics today: general
the measurements, or in which direction you make the
relativity1, which describes the universe on a grand scale;
measurements. Using our clocks and comparing the
and quantum mechanics2, which describes the universe on
time kept by the various types of clock we can actually
a microscopic scale.
find evidence of this next level of understanding of the
The remarkable thing is that these two theories are universe.
fundamentally contradictory3. When we try to explain
things where they both apply, they just refuse to work
together. In addition, as we’ve learnt more and more about
Explanatory notes
the universe it seems to be getting still more complicated. 1. General relativity
Dark matter4, dark energy5 and a whole host of hundreds
Einstein realised that the ‘gravity’ we feel is just
of fundamental particles6, and no way to put it all together.
acceleration we experience as we move through
I think that most of us are convinced that there is a new
spacetime. This is known as the equivalence principle,
level of understanding which will unify all these laws and
and is the basis of Einstein’s general theory of
phenomena. The problem is how to break through into this
relativity. Previously, Einstein’s special theory of
new level of understanding.
relativity proposed that time and distance are not
So you may ask how we research these fundamental laws absolutes, and measurements of them will differ for
of physics. Well, one could just sit, and think, in a room. different observers.
And, if you’re very smart, then perhaps the truth will come
So if gravity is equivalent to acceleration, and motion
to you. In our case we’re not smart enough to do this, and
affects both time and space, then it follows that
anyway we’d get lonely sitting in a room alone. So what
gravity also affects time and space. This means that
we’ve done is join together in a big team to try and make
masses will distort spacetime around them and time
extremely accurate measurements to find where Einstein
will progress at different rates in different parts of
went wrong7, for example, or to find out where our
a gravitational field! As strange as they are, these
understanding of the world of atoms is incorrect.
predictions have been verified by observation.
For example, here we are at Winthrop Tower at UWA.
2. Quantum mechanics
Einstein has told us that, up here, time should flow around
30 billionths of a second [per year] faster, because gravity Quantum mechanics describes interactions between
is a little weaker8. Well that’s pretty difficult to measure. energy and matter at the atomic and sub-atomic
What we want to do is put our clock onto the International scale, such as electron transitions between energy
Space Station where time should differ by about a levels of an atom. The effects of quantum mechanics
millisecond per year. That’s easy for us to measure, because are only observable at atomic and sub-atomic scales.
our clock is capable of measuring just a few billionths of a
second. In my laboratory we are building several different
types of clocks, so that we can test the laws of physics.

ast0036 | Matter and relativity 4: The physics behind Measuring time (teachers guide) developed for the Department of Education WA
© The University of Western Australia 2010 for conditions of use see spice.wa.edu.au/usage
version 1.2 reviewed January 2014 page 1 Licensed for NEALS
3. The two theories are fundamentally 6. Fundamental particles
contradictory
Fundamental particles are those that do not contain
General relativity describes physics on a grand scale smaller particles. Protons, neutrons and electrons
(ie the Universe). It describes a continuum of space were once thought to be fundamental particles
and time. Predictions made on the basis of relativity that make up all matter. We now know protons and
focus on ‘cause and effect’ relationships. neutrons are composed of smaller particles, but
we do not yet know if electrons are fundamental
Quantum theory describes a world in which some
particles.
states are allowed and others are prohibited (for
example, electrons can only exist in certain energy The current theory of matter, called the Standard
levels in the Bohr-Rutherford atom). Predictions Model, tells us that all matter is made up from
made on the basis of quantum theory focus on the six quarks and six leptons held together by forces
probability of an event occurring. carried by particles called bosons (b).
General relativity and quantum mechanics have Gluons, photons, and W and Z bosons are particles
both been verified experimentally. However, when that carry the strong, electromagnetic, and weak
we try to explain situations in which both theories forces, respectively.
apply, they don’t work together! Andre Luiten and
7. Einstein went wrong
other researchers are striving to resolve differences
between these theories. Andre’s statement is deliberately provocative. We
have no evidence that Einstein’s theories are wrong,
4. Dark matter
but we do know that they can’t be the complete
About 75 years ago astrophysicists observed a picture. Throughout scientific history, we have
galactic cluster that appeared to have much more overlooked things or made errors when explaining
gravitational force than expected from the mass of observations and we are still discovering how
its visible stars. Dark matter was proposed to explain limited some of our understandings are. We have
the ‘missing’ mass. already seen how the GPS system could easily have
failed if the effect of gravity on time had not been
Dark matter is so called because it doesn’t interact
considered.
with light. It makes up an estimated 23% of the
mass-energy of the Universe (a). Dark matter is 8. Time is faster because gravity is weaker
thought to be composed of sub-atomic particles that
The general theory of relativity tells us that time
interact only weakly with ordinary matter. Neutrinos,
slows down more in stronger gravitational fields. A
which have little interaction with normal matter,
clock at the top of Winthrop Tower will run faster
could account for a small proportion of dark matter.
because it is further from the centre of the Earth,
5. Dark energy and therefore in slightly weaker gravity than at
ground level.
In the 1990s, astrophysicists observed supernovae
in an effort to study the expansion of the Universe But wait; there’s more! The special theory of
over relatively recent times. They were surprised to relativity tells us that time runs slower when objects
discover that the expansion appeared to be speeding travel faster. The clock at the top of the tower moves
up, rather than slowing down! at a slightly faster speed than one at ground level
because it has to travel further each time the Earth
In 2003, scientists determined that dark energy
rotates. This extra speed has the opposite effect and
accounts for 72% of the mass-energy of the
makes the clock at the top of the tower run slower.
Universe (a). We know little about dark energy, but it
is thought to be a gravitationally repulsive force that 9. Sapphire clock
causes the Universe to expand at an ever-increasing
All time measurement is based on a repetitive
rate.
element, such as the swing of a pendulum in a
The remaining 5% of the total mass-energy of the grandfather clock. Since the 1960s, atomic clocks
observable Universe is made up of ordinary atoms (a). have used the natural oscillations of radiation
These are the building blocks that make up visible emitted by caesium atoms.
matter such as stars, planets, moons and you.
A sapphire clock uses repetitive bouncing of
Think about it, only 5% of the Universe is visible. microwaves pumped inside a sapphire crystal. When
How amazing is that! the artificially grown sapphire crystal is kept at a very
low temperature, the number of ‘bounces’ of the
microwaves within the crystal can be used for very
accurate time keeping. Andre Luiten’s team at UWA
has made the world’s most accurate clock, measuring
to within one second in 300 million years.

References
a) NASA/WMAP Science Team. 2008. Content of the Universe.
Retrieved 27 Oct 2009 from http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/

b) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 2009. The particle adventure.

Retrieved 27 Oct 2009 from http://particleadventure.org

ast0036 | Matter and relativity 4: The physics behind Measuring time (teachers guide) developed for the Department of Education WA
© The University of Western Australia 2010 for conditions of use see spice.wa.edu.au/usage
version 1.2 reviewed January 2014 page 2 Licensed for NEALS