Nonstandard superconductivity or no superconductivity in hydrides under high pressure

Abstract

Over the past six years, superconductivity at high temperatures has been reported in a variety of hydrogen-rich compounds under high pressure. That high-temperature superconductivity should exist in these materials is expected according to the conventional theory of superconductivity, as shown by detailed calculations. However here we argue that experimental observations rule out conventional superconductivity in these materials. Our results indicate that either these materials are unconventional superconductors of a novel kind, which we term `nonstandard superconductors', or alternatively that they are not superconductors. If the former, we point out that the critical current in these materials should be five orders of magnitude larger than in standard superconductors, potentially opening up the way to important technological applications. If the latter, which we believe is more likely, we suggest that the signals interpreted as superconductivity are either experimental artifacts or they signal other interesting physics but not superconductivity.

11 pages, 13 figures

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• High-temperature superconductivity in hydrides: experimental evidence and details
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• Synthesis and Superconductivity in yttrium superhydrides under high pressure
• High-Pressure Synthesis of Seven Lanthanum Hydrides with a Significant Variability of Hydrogen Content
• Clean-limit superconductivity in Im-3m H3S synthesized from sulfur and hydrogen donor ammonia borane
• Future Study of Dense Superconducting Hydrides at High Pressure
• Synthesis of possible room temperature superconductor LK-99:Pb${}_9$Cu(PO${}_4$)${}_6$O
• Resistive transition of hydrogen-rich superconductors
• On magnetic field screening and trapping in hydrogen-rich high-temperature superconductors: unpulling the wool over readers' eyes
• Massive electrons and unconventional room-temperature superconductivity in superhydrides