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arXiv · 1702.04246

Comment on Observation of the Wigner-Huntington transition to metallic hydrogen

Alexander F. Goncharov·Viktor V. Struzhkin
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Abstract

A recent paper of Dias and Silvera (DS) reports on production of metallic hydrogen in a diamond anvil cell at 495 GPa at 5.5 and 83 K. The results are implied to have a great impact on energy and rocketry. Here we argue that the presented (very scarce) results are contradictory with the presented experimental description making their claims unsupported experimentally. Moreover, the proposed implications are highly speculative making this paper very confusing for a broad audience. Elucidating the claims and the related implications is important for building a coherent picture that is currently emerging as the results of theoretical calculations at various levels and experimental investigations employing static and dynamic compression techniques. There is no doubt that hydrogen metallizes at high pressures. But this does not make all claims about reaching this state immediately valid. Scientific community would like to learn at what conditions hydrogen metallizes, what is the nature of the conducting state and its properties (e.g. superconductivity). Here we argue that the presented data do not provide any reliable information on this.

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Alexander F. Goncharov, Viktor V. Struzhkin. 2017-02-13. Comment on Observation of the Wigner-Huntington transition to metallic hydrogen. https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.04246

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