New research sharpens understanding of the hidden symmetry in a mysterious superconductor.
Superconductors are materials that allow electrical current to flow without any resistance, a property that typically appears only at extremely low temperatures. While most known superconductors follow established theoretical frameworks, strontium ruthenate, Sr2RuO4, has remained difficult to explain since researchers first identified its superconducting behavior in 1994.
The material is widely regarded as one of the purest and most thoroughly examined examples of unconventional superconductivity. Even so, scientists have not reached agreement on the exact nature of the electron pairing within Sr2RuO4, including its symmetry and internal structure, which are central to understanding how its superconductivity arises.
Probing Superconductivity Through Strain
One effective way to uncover the character of a superconducting state is to observe how the temperature at which superconductivity begins, known as Tc, shifts when mechanical strain is applied. Stretching, squeezing, or twisting a crystal can reveal important differences because distinct superconducting states respond to these distortions in unique ways.
Earlier investigations, particularly those using ultrasound techniques, pointed to the possibility that Sr2RuO4 supports a two-component superconducting state. This more intricate form of superconductivity could allow unusual effects, including internal magnetic fields or the presence of multiple superconducting regions within the same material. A defining feature of a true two-component state, however, is a strong sensitivity to shear strain.
A New Approach Using Shear Strain
This inspired a team of researchers from Kyoto University to use strain to understand the true nature of the superconducting state of Sr2RuO4. The researchers developed a technique that allowed them to apply three distinct kinds of shear strain to extremely thin Sr2RuO4 crystals. Shear strain is a type of distortion that shifts part of the crystal sideways, similar to sliding the top of a deck of cards relative to the bottom.
The strain levels were carefully measured using high-resolution optical imaging down to 30 degrees K (−243 degrees C). The key discovery: the superconducting temperature hardly changed at all. Any shift in Tc was smaller than 10 millikelvin per percent strain, effectively below the detection limit.
These results show that shear strain has virtually no effect on the temperature at which Sr2RuO4 becomes superconducting, ruling out several proposed theories and setting strict limits on what kinds of superconducting states are still possible. The findings instead point toward a one-component superconducting state, or perhaps even more unusual, still-unexplored superconducting states that behave differently from conventional theoretical expectations.
“Our study represents a major step toward solving one of the longest-standing mysteries in condensed-matter physics,” says first author Giordano Mattoni, Toyota Riken – Kyoto University Research Center.
An Ongoing Mystery and Broader Impact
This study tightens the search for the correct explanation of how superconductivity occurs in this compound. Yet a puzzle remains: earlier ultrasound measurements clearly showed a strong effect linked to shear, while the new direct strain measurements do not. Understanding why these two methods disagree is now a major open question.
Beyond Sr2RuO4, the strain-control technique developed in this study can be applied to other superconductors that exhibit multi-component behavior, such as UPt₃, as well as other materials with intricate phase transitions.
Reference: “Direct evidence for the absence of coupling between shear strain and superconductivity in Sr2RuO4” by Giordano Mattoni, Thomas Johnson, Atsutoshi Ikeda, Shubhankar Paul, Jake Bobowski, Manfred Sigrist and Yoshiteru Maeno, 16 December 2025, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-67307-1
Funding: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
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3 Comments
Earlier ultrasound measurements clearly showed a strong effect linked to shear, while the new direct strain measurements do not. Understanding why these two methods disagree is now a major open question. New research sharpens understanding of the hidden symmetry in a mysterious superconductor.
VERY GOOD.
Please ask researchers to think deeply:
1. Where does symmetry in space come from?
2. Where did the asymmetry observed by researchers in the experiment come from?
3. Does the observation behavior of researchers have an impact on symmetry?
When we pursue the ultimate truth of all things, the space in which our bodies and all things exist may itself be the final and deepest puzzle we need to explore. This is not only the pursuit of physics, but also the most magnificent exploration of the origin of the universe by human reason.
Based on the Topological Vortex Theory (TVT), space is an uniformly incompressible physical entity. Space-time vortices are the products of topological phase transitions of the tipping points in space, are the point defects in spacetime. Point defects do not only impact the thermodynamic properties, but are also central to kinetic processes. They create all things and shape the world through spin and self-organization.
In today’s physics, some so-called peer-reviewed journals—including Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, and others—stubbornly insist on and promote the following:
1. Even though θ and τ particles exhibit differences in experiments, physics can claim they are the same particle. This is science.
2. Even though topological vortices and antivortices have identical structures and opposite rotational directions, physics can define their structures and directions as entirely different. This is science.
3. Even though two sets of cobalt-60 rotate in opposite directions and experiments reveal asymmetry, physics can still define them as mirror images of each other. This is science.
4. Even though vortex structures are ubiquitous—from cosmic accretion disks to particle spins—physics must insist that vortex structures do not exist and require verification. Only the particles that like God, Demonic, or Angelic are the most fundamental structures of the universe. This is science.
5. Even though everything occupies space and maintains its existence in time, physics must still debate and insist on whether space exists and whether time is a figment of the human mind. This is science.
6. Even though space, with its non-stick, incompressible, and isotropic characteristics, provides a solid foundation for the development of physics, physics must still insist that the ideal fluid properties of space do not exist. This is science.
and go on.
Is this the counterintuitive science they widely promote? Compromising with pseudo academic publications and peer review by pseudo scholars is an insult to science and public intelligence. Some so-called scholars no longer understand what shame is. The study of Topological Vortex Theory (TVT) reminds us that the most profound problems in physics often lie at the intersection of different theories. By exploring these border regions, we can not only resolve contradictions in existing theories but also discover new physical phenomena and application possibilities.
Under the topological vortex architecture, it is highly challenging for even two hydrogen atoms or two quarks to be perfectly symmetrical, let alone counter-rotating two sets of cobalt-60. Contemporary physics and so-called peer-reviewed publications (including Physical Review Letters, Science, Nature, etc.) stubbornly believe that two sets of counter rotating cobalt-60 are two mirror images of each other, constructing a more shocking pseudoscientific theoretical framework in the history of science than the “geocentric model”. This pseudo scientific framework and system have seriously hindered scientific progress and social development.
For nearly a century, physics has been manipulated by this pseudo scientific theoretical system and the interest groups behind it, wasting a lot of manpower, funds, and time. A large amount of pseudo scientific research has been conducted, and countless pseudo scientific papers have been published, causing serious negative impacts on scientific and social progress, as well as humanistic development.
Complexity does not necessarily mean that there is no logical and architectural framework to follow. Mathematics is the language and tool that reveals the motion of spacetime, rather than the motion itself. Although the physical form of spacetime vortices is extremely simple, their interaction patterns are highly complex, and we must develop more and richer mathematical languages to describe and understand them.
The development of the Topological Vortex Theory (TVT) reflects a progression from concrete physical phenomena to abstract mathematical modeling and, ultimately, to interdisciplinary unification. Its core innovation lies in forging the continuous spacetime geometry of general relativity with the discrete interactions of quantum field theory within the same topological dynamical system. The core idea of TVT — space is physical, and matter is its topological excitation—already provides a solid and elegant scientific path for understanding the origin of all things.
——Excerpted from https://scitechdaily.com/microscope-spacecrafts-most-precise-test-of-key-component-of-the-theory-of-general-relativity/#comment-909171 and https://t.pineal.cn/blogs/6255/A-Mathematical-and-Physical-Analysis-On-the-Origin-of-Objects.
The simplest explanation of super-conductivity is Newtonian. In any material, the attractive and repulsive forces remain balanced, the vibrations of atoms acting as repulsive force. A change in temperature affects the vibrations, and the atoms move in such a way that forces again remain balanced.
At the critical temperature, the positions of atoms in the given material will be such that the attractive and repulsive electrostatic forces are equal, thus providing a neutral path for electron-pairs to move without any resistance