/ Research
The smallest possible system that can be synchronized is discovered
Synchronization is ubiquitous in our everyday life. We experience it for instance when getting jetlagged after a long trip; there, the underlying mechanism is the synchronization of our circadian rhythm to the day-night cycle. Physicists in Basel have addressed a major difficulty that arises when trying to understand this phenomenon in a quantum setting. They have identified the minimal quantum resource that can be synchronized to an external periodic signal. Their system can be readily implemented in the laboratory and provides the ideal platform for studying complex large networks of quantum units. The results have been published in Physical Review Letters and featured as a viewpoint in Physics. We discuss the relation between quantum synchronization and entanglement in another Physical Review Letters.