Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T01:40:29.127Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

21 - Future of Timekeeping

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2018

Dennis D. McCarthy
Affiliation:
United States Naval Observatory
P. Kenneth Seidelmann
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Get access

Summary

The growing demand for improvements in the precision and accuracy of time and frequency will drive the developments in the field for years to come. Anticipated future requirements include improved transportation methods, the ability to navigate within buildings, precise spectrum allocation, and scientific applications. Improvements in Earth orientation modeling will depend on improved observations and understanding of the physics of the Earth, Real-time estimates of the Earth's rotation angle may permit more reliable predictions. The future of clocks could include chip-scale atomic clocks, optical clocks, and alkali atom fountains. A pulsar-based timescale will be an independent source of time able to identify possible systematic variations in TAI. An ensemble white dwarf timescale may be possible, if additional white dwarfs with accurate rotation rates are found. It is likely that improvements in clock technology will result in the redefinition of the second and a more precise timescale. Dynamical timescales based on higher orders of relativity and post-post-Newtonian parameters could be expected, as well as definitions of proper times for planets to satisfy planetary mission requirements. Correspondingly accurate time and frequency distribution methods will be required, including optical fibers, quantum entanglement, and a distributed clock.
Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arias, E. F. (2009). Current and Future Realizations of Coordinate Time Scales. In Klioner, A., Seidelmann, P. K., & Soffel, M. H., eds., Relativity in Fundamental Astronomy. Proceedings of IAU Symposium 261. Paris: International Astronomical Union.Google Scholar
Arias, E. F. (2017). New Technologies and the Future of Time Keeping. In Arias, E. F., Combrink, L., Gabor, P., Hohenkerk, C., & Seidelmann, P. K., eds., Science of Time 2016. Springer.Google Scholar
Coecke, B. (2003). The Logic of Entanglement. Research Report PRG-RR-03–12, 2003. arXiv:quant-ph/0402014.Google Scholar
Kepler, S. O. (2012). White Dwarf Stars: Pulsations and Magnetism. In Shibahashi, H., Takata, M., & Lynas-Gray, A. E., eds., 61st Fujihara Seminar: Progress in Solar/Stellar Physics with Helio- and Asteroseismology. ASP Conference Series, 462. San Francisco, CA: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, pp. 322325.Google Scholar
Kepler, S. O., Mukadam, A., Winget, D. E., & Bradley, P. A. (2000). Evolutionary Timescale of the Pulsating White Dwarf G117-b15a: The Most Stable Optical Clock Known. Astron. J., 534, L185L188.Google Scholar
Kodet, J., Pánek, P., & Procházka, I. (2016). Accuracy of Two-Way Time Transfer via a Single Coaxial Cable. Metrologia, 50, 1826.Google Scholar
Tanenbaum, A. S. & van Steen, M. (2007). Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×