Cosmic Rays Used to Develop New Method to Synchronize Earth Activities with Certain Devices

Early tests show promise in terms of cosmic ray events, although the real challenge may lie in the employment of this new approach.

As specified in a Phys.org report, various methods, networks, and institutions are benefiting or requiring "accurate timekeeping to synchronize their activities."

Existing methods of synchronizing time have some drawbacks that a new proposed approach is seeking to address. Essentially, the cosmic time synchronizer is working by synchronizing devices around cosmic ray occurrences detected by those devices.

This could result in accurate timing capabilities to remote sensing stations, or even underwater, places that other approaches cannot serve.

Cosmic Time Synchronization

Humanity is intimately linked to the notion of time. Historically, the cosmos itself was used, the stars and the sun, to gauge the time and coordinate human activities.

It is fitting, then, that the study investigators are looking out to the cosmos again, to further develop the ability to keep time.

Professor Hiroyuki Tanaka from Muographix at the University of Tokyo developed and tested a method to synchronize multiple devices.

Therefore, they agree upon the time that's making use of cosmic rays from deep space. Suitably, it is called cosmic time synchronization or CTS.

In the study published in the Scientific Reports journal, the professor explained that it is relatively easy to keep time precisely these days. For instance, atomic clocks have been doing this for many years now.

Devices Sharing Sense of Time

Nonetheless, these are large and costly devices that are easy to disrupt. This is a reason Tanakas has been working on an improved way to keep time.

Another one is that, in relation to time measurement, position measurement could be made better, too. Therefore, definitely, CTS is a precursor to a "potential replacement for GPS," although that is still a little further down the line, elaborated the professor.

The reason it is crucial for devices to have a shared sense of time is those specific devices are increasingly essential to life's many aspects.

Cosmic Rays

CTS is working because of the cosmic rays from deep space that strike the atmosphere around 15 kilometers and above, producing showers of particles which include muons.

The muons are traveling near the speed of light, reaching the ground, nearly immediately, they can easily infiltrate rock or water, then spread out as they travel to cover a few square kilometers of ground.

Independent CTS-enabled devices under the same particle shower can identify the incoming muons, which will have a particular signature distinctive to the cosmic ray event that generated them.

By sharing the information, CTS devices can confer with one another and synchronize their clocks depending on the event the cosmic ray occurrence occurred.

Essentially, the ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray strikes take place often rough, about 100 times every hour over each square kilometer of Earth, for CTS devices to work together in real-time.

Filling the Gap

Tanaka said that the principle is strong and the technology, detectors, and timing electronics already exist. Therefore, he added, this idea should be implemented relatively fast.

Satellite-based synchronization has a lot of blind spots at the poles, in mountainous areas, or underwater, for instance, and CTS could fill such gaps and more, a similar HAT-INC report specified.

This issue, as with any new technology, is an adoption of Thomas Edison line up with Manhattan, starting with one light bulb.

Probably, Tanaka said, they should take that approach, beginning with a city block, followed by a district, and eventually, "we'll be able to synchronize" the entire Tokyo and beyond.

Related information about cosmic rays is shown on TED-Ed's YouTube video below:

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