Analysis of electrical resistance data from Snider et al., Nature $\underline{586}$, 373 (2020)

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the temperature-dependent electrical resistance data from a 2020 study, revealing asymmetric serrations at high pressure and discussing their implications for understanding superconductivity.

Contribution

It provides a detailed reanalysis of published resistance data, highlighting features that may influence interpretations of high-pressure superconductivity phenomena.

Findings

Asymmetric serrations observed at 267 GPa in zero magnetic field

No serrations detected at lower pressures or under magnetic field

A step of approximately 16% in the smooth resistance data

Abstract

Digital data for the temperature dependence of electrical resistance, which were extracted and analyzed by Hamlin (arXiv:2210.10766v1) from the pdf file published for "Room temperature superconductivity in a carbonaceous sulfur hydride," show asymmetric serrations in data for 267 GPa in zero magnetic field that comprise smooth and digitized parts. Further analysis shows that the smooth part exhibits a step at the transition of ~16% in magnitude relative to the data. Notably, there is no evidence of asymmetric serrations in extracted data for lower pressures (184-258 GPa) or for 267 GPa in an applied magnetic field (1-9 T). Several questions are raised, the answers to which would help toward resolving these outstanding issues.