A superconductor to superfluid phase transition in liquid metallic hydrogen

Egor Babaev (), Asle Sudbø and N. W. Ashcroft
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Egor Babaev: Cornell University
Asle Sudbø: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
N. W. Ashcroft: Cornell University

Nature, 2004, vol. 431, issue 7009, 666-668

Abstract: Abstract Although hydrogen is the simplest of atoms, it does not form the simplest of solids or liquids. Quantum effects in these phases are considerable (a consequence of the light proton mass) and they have a demonstrable and often puzzling influence on many physical properties1, including spatial order. To date, the structure of dense hydrogen remains experimentally elusive2. Recent studies of the melting curve of hydrogen3,4 indicate that at high (but experimentally accessible) pressures, compressed hydrogen will adopt a liquid state, even at low temperatures. In reaching this phase, hydrogen is also projected to pass through an insulator-to-metal transition. This raises the possibility of new state of matter: a near ground-state liquid metal, and its ordered states in the quantum domain. Ordered quantum fluids are traditionally categorized as superconductors or superfluids; these respective systems feature dissipationless electrical currents or mass flow. Here we report a topological analysis of the projected phase of liquid metallic hydrogen, finding that it may represent a new type of ordered quantum fluid. Specifically, we show that liquid metallic hydrogen cannot be categorized exclusively as a superconductor or superfluid. We predict that, in the presence of a magnetic field, liquid metallic hydrogen will exhibit several phase transitions to ordered states, ranging from superconductors to superfluids.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature02910

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