A new discovery could help scientists to understand "strange metals," a class of materials that are related to high-temperature superconductors and share fundamental quantum attributes with black holes.
© Brown UniversityUsing a material called yttrium barium copper oxide arrayed with tiny holes, researchers have discovered "strange metal" behavior in a type of system where charge carriers are bosons, something that's never been seen before.
Providence, R.I. [Brown University] — Scientists understand quite well how temperature affects electrical conductance in most everyday metals like copper or silver. But in recent years, researchers have turned their attention to a
class of materials that do not seem to follow the traditional electrical rules. Understanding these so-called "strange metals" could provide fundamental insights into the quantum world, and potentially help scientists understand strange phenomena like high-temperature superconductivity.
Now, a research team co-led by a Brown University physicist has added a new discovery to the strange metal mix. In
research published in the journal Nature, the team found strange metal behavior in a material in which
electrical charge is carried not by electrons, but by more "wave-like" entities called Cooper pairs.While electrons belong to a class of particles called fermions, Cooper pairs act as bosons, which follow very different rules from fermions. This is the first time strange metal behavior has been seen in a bosonic system, and researchers are hopeful that the discovery might be helpful in finding an explanation for how strange metals work — something that has eluded scientists for decades.
"We have these two fundamentally different types of particles whose behaviors converge around a mystery," said Jim Valles, a professor of physics at Brown and the study's corresponding author. "What this says is that any theory to explain strange metal behavior can't be specific to either type of particle. It needs to be more fundamental than that."
Comment: Twitter user Kaya Masters makes an excellent point: