How did the normal temperature normal pressure superconductor 'LK-99' create a vortex of excitement on the net?


by

Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge

On July 22, 2023, Korean researchers published a paper on the preprint server arXiv stating that they had developed a material called ' LK-99 ,' which is superconducting at room temperature and normal pressure. 99” and “normal temperature normal pressure superconductivity” quickly swept over social media such as X (formerly Twitter) and became a big trend. The New York Times, an American news media, summarizes the trajectory that SNS showed excitement that can be said to be enthusiastic while keeping a cautious attitude in the scientific world.

LK-99 Is the Ambient Superconductor of the Summer - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/03/science/lk-99-superconductor-ambient.html

Sinead Griffin, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, said on August 1, 2023, along with a link to a preliminary research paper that conducted simulations on LK-99, former President Obama. I posted a video of him dropping the mic on X.



Griffin posted a video of former President Barack Obama dropping the microphone on the floor in a performance of 'I have nothing more to say' as he finished his speech at the 2016 White House Press Conference Dinner. It's from

According to The New York Times, the reaction to 'The mic drop' was enthusiastic, with some X users in particular interpreting it as a moment of confirmation of a crucial discovery in physics. About. For example, one X user wrote, 'Oh my God, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory confirmed that LK-99 is real?'



Alex Kaplan is also among the X users riding the wave of what The New York Times has described as 'a roller coaster of excitement and disappointment that has LK-99 fans hooked.'

Mr. Kaplan, who learned about LK-99 on the social news site Hacker News, immediately said, ``I may have seen the biggest physical discovery in my life today. I don't think people fully understand what it means, but it's something that could completely change our lives,' he shared on X, sharing his excitement.



With the post, which has 133,000 likes at the time of writing, Mr. Kaplan has joined the ranks of LK-99 fans who are showing excitement on social media, but The New York Times said, ' 'Most die-hard fans aren't experts.' For example, Mr. Kaplan majored in physics at Princeton University when he was a student, but at the time of writing the article, he is responsible for coffee products at Cometeer, a manufacturer of instant frozen coffee extracts.

While there is a lot of enthusiasm on social media, many scientists who are researching superconductivity and solid state physics remain silent, and are not really happy about the interest in their research themes. This is because research in this field rarely creates a public frenzy, and many unproven claims have so far disappeared without hesitation, yet the room-temperature superconductor claim alone. was an extraordinary success.

Griffin told The New York Times, 'It is wonderful to see the public interest in the study of solid state physics, if properly explained and given the caveats that I believe are necessary for this discussion.' talked.



According to The New York Times, many experts say that ``the data provided by Korean scientists so far lacks persuasiveness'' and that they have not broken their skeptical view.

For example, Sankar das Salma, director of the Center for Condensed Matter Theory at the University of Maryland, said, 'It's too early to draw any conclusions about superconductivity. The data are very suggestive, but by no means convincing.' It's not something that has a 'comment.

Das Salma also posted on the official account of the Center for Condensed Matter Theory that there is a mystery in the diagram of the paper published by the Korean research team, and that it is a material that replaces some of the lead atoms of the mineral apatite with copper. After pointing out that the resistance is about 100 times higher than that of a good conductor metal such as pure copper, he said, ``The electrical resistance does not decrease at the temperature at which the Korean research team claims that LK-99 became a superconductor. It won't go to zero,' he said.



Also, some videos of floating black objects have been released as evidence, but this is also not conclusive as non-superconducting materials such as graphite can exhibit partial levitation as well. It seems that it can not be said.

Since then, new information has appeared on the Internet in rapid succession. Kaplan said on August 1, 'Griffin has discovered the rationale for superconductivity in copper-doped lead apatite. The isolated flat band at the Fermi level is a feature of superconducting crystals, LK-99 has it! This is a big deal,' she wrote.



On the other hand, Mr. Griffin commented, 'I did not explain superconductivity in this calculation.' Computer simulations show that the substitution of copper in apatite leads to anomalous rearrangement of atoms, reducing the volume of the apatite crystal structure, which appears to change the electronic structure to one suitable for superconductivity. I explained that it was just

This electronic feature, called 'flat-band', is associated with the discovery of high-temperature superconductors in the 1980s, i.e., superconductivity at temperatures below room temperature but above those previously observed only at cryogenic temperatures. It is very similar to that found in substances that are This promotes strong interactions between electrons, which may cause superconductivity, but the observation of flat bands does not always mean superconductivity.

A group of Chinese scientists has also published a paper on simulation results that they discovered a similar electronic structure. However, it can also mean various other phenomena such as metal-to-insulator transitions, charge density waves , magnetism, etc. All of them are interesting,' he said, denying the optimistic interpretation of 'mic drop'. Did.



Meanwhile, on the same day, a group of scientists from Southeast University in China reported that they had synthesized LK-99 and measured zero resistance in one of its samples.

About the normal temperature normal pressure superconductor ``LK-99'' reproduction experiment, Southeast University team announced that ``zero resistance'' was observed at minus 163 degrees - GIGAZINE



However, about -163°C is far from room temperature, and the decrease in electrical resistance was gradual, not as rapid as expected for superconductors. Some data have shown a decrease in resistance at higher temperatures, but this has been attributed to impurities or equipment failure.

Regarding this epidemic set in a preprint server, Das Salma said, ``Physics published in a non-peer-reviewed preprint is a farce. The resistivity at the conduction transition temperature was 100 times that of copper, and the Southeast University study also showed no transition, just an artifact produced by the instrument. No one can deceive nature,' he commented.

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