Exponential gain in clock precision using quantum correlated ticks

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Meier, Florian, Minoguchi, Yuri, Blasi, Gianmichele, Haack, Géraldine, Huber, Marcus
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Meier, Florian
Minoguchi, Yuri
Blasi, Gianmichele
Haack, Géraldine
Huber, Marcus
author_facet Meier, Florian
Minoguchi, Yuri
Blasi, Gianmichele
Haack, Géraldine
Huber, Marcus
contents Creating precise timing devices at ultra-short time scales is not just an important technological challenge, but confronts us with foundational questions about timekeeping's ultimate precision limits. Research on clocks has either focused on long-term stability using an oscillator stabilized by a level transition, limiting precision at short timescales, or on making individual stochastic ticks as precise as possible. Here, we prove the viability of a conceptually different avenue: the autonomous self-correction of consecutive ticks by quantum correlations. This provides a new paradigm that integrates the advantages and insights from quantum transport theory to operate clocks at ultra-short timescales. We fully solve a model of coupled quantum systems and show how the emergent Pauli exclusion principle correlates the clock at the quantum level yielding an exponential advantage in precision. We furthermore demonstrate through simulations with realistic imperfections that this remarkable gain in precision remains stable providing a roadmap for implementation with contemporary quantum technologies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_10785
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exponential gain in clock precision using quantum correlated ticks
Meier, Florian
Minoguchi, Yuri
Blasi, Gianmichele
Haack, Géraldine
Huber, Marcus
Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Creating precise timing devices at ultra-short time scales is not just an important technological challenge, but confronts us with foundational questions about timekeeping's ultimate precision limits. Research on clocks has either focused on long-term stability using an oscillator stabilized by a level transition, limiting precision at short timescales, or on making individual stochastic ticks as precise as possible. Here, we prove the viability of a conceptually different avenue: the autonomous self-correction of consecutive ticks by quantum correlations. This provides a new paradigm that integrates the advantages and insights from quantum transport theory to operate clocks at ultra-short timescales. We fully solve a model of coupled quantum systems and show how the emergent Pauli exclusion principle correlates the clock at the quantum level yielding an exponential advantage in precision. We furthermore demonstrate through simulations with realistic imperfections that this remarkable gain in precision remains stable providing a roadmap for implementation with contemporary quantum technologies.
title Exponential gain in clock precision using quantum correlated ticks
topic Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10785