High-Temperature Superconductivity in Atomic Metallic Hydrogen

TL;DR

This study predicts that atomic metallic hydrogen exhibits high-temperature superconductivity with critical temperatures reaching up to 764K under extreme pressures, based on electron-phonon interactions across different phases.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed theoretical prediction of high-temperature superconductivity in atomic metallic hydrogen over a wide pressure range, highlighting phase-dependent variations in $T_c$.

Findings

$T_c$ increases with pressure, reaching about 356K near 500 GPa.

$T_c$ approaches 481K near 700 GPa.

A discontinuous jump in $T_c$ occurs at the atomic-atomic phase transition, reaching up to 764K.

Abstract

Superconductivity in the recently proposed ground-state structures of atomic metallic hydrogen is investigated over the pressure range 500 GPa to 3.5 TPa. Near molecular dissociation, the electron--phonon coupling $\lambda$ and renormalized Coulomb repulsion are similar to the molecular phase. A continuous increase in the critical temperature $T_c$ with pressure is therefore expected, to $\jmmapprox 356$K near 500 GPa. As the atomic phase stabilizes with increasing pressure, $\lambda$ increases, causing $T_c$ to approach $\jmmapprox 481$K near 700 GPa. At the first atomic--atomic structural phase transformation ($\jmmapprox 1$ -- 1.5 TPa), a discontinuous jump in $\lambda$ occurs, causing a significant increase in $T_c$ of up to 764K.