String theory was devised as a way to unite the laws of quantum mechanics with those of gravity, with the goal of creating the vaunted “theory of everything.”
Subir Sachdev is taking the “everything” literally. He’s applying the mathematics of string theory to a major problem at the other end of physics — the behavior of a potentially revolutionary class of materials known as high-temperature superconductors.
These materials are among the most promising and the most perplexing. Unlike regular superconductors, which need to be cooled almost to absolute zero (–273.15 degrees Celsius) to pass a frictionless current of electricity, high-temperature superconductors yield the same remarkable performance under more accommodating conditions. Since the first high-temperature superconductor was discovered in 1986, physicists have found other materials that exhibit superconductivity at successively higher temperatures, with the current record standing at –70 degrees Celsius.
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