Discover meteors containing superconducting alloys

For the first time, scientists have found superconducting materials - electrically conductive materials without resistors - that come from outside the Earth.

The Mund Mundillaillac meteorite contains superconducting alloys.(Photo: Phys).

After analyzing 15 fragments from comets and asteroids, researchers from the University of California, San Diego and the Brookhaven Laboratory in New York found superconducting alloys inside two meteors, placed named as Mund Mundillailla and GRA 95205 . The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on March 23.

By using ultra-sensitive spectrometric measurement techniques, the scientists say the two meteors have many phases of matter - the area of ​​space where the material has uniform physical and chemical properties. The team describes these phases as an alloy of lead, tin and indium (the softest non-alkali metal). They only act as superconductors at temperatures of around 5K, equivalent to -268 ° C, close to the coldest threshold of temperature according to physical rules of -273.15 ° C.

"Superconducting materials rarely occur in nature. The alloy found in meteorites is even more special because of its origin from the environment outside of Earth , " said first author of the James Wampler study. from University of California, San Diego.

The discovery could affect our understanding in areas such as astrophysics, because superconducting particles in cold environments may be involved in the formation of the planet, the origin of the magnetic field. , dynamics effects, movement of charged particles and more.

1. High temperature superconducting material based on iron first
2. Invented the world's smallest superconducting material