Scientists have long been puzzled by strange metals, materials that don’t follow the usual rules of electricity and magnetism. Now, physicists at Rice University have made a major breakthrough using a tool from quantum information science.
In a new study published in Nature Communications, they show that electrons in strange metals become highly entangled at a key tipping point. This finding offers fresh insight into the behavior of these unusual materials and could eventually lead to improvements in superconductors – technologies that may one day revolutionize how we transmit and use energy.
Unlike everyday metals like copper or gold, which behave in predictable ways, strange metals act far more erratically. Their electrical properties can’t be easily explained using standard physics. To investigate, the team – led by Qimiao Si, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice – used a concept called quantum Fisher information (QFI). This tool, borrowed from quantum metrology, helps scientists track how electron interactions change under extreme conditions.
Their results show that electron entanglement, a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics, reaches its peak at what’s known as a quantum critical point, the boundary between two different states of matter.
“Our findings reveal that strange metals exhibit a unique entanglement pattern, which offers a new lens to understand their exotic behavior,” Si said. “By leveraging quantum information theory, we are uncovering deep quantum correlations that were previously inaccessible.”
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