* Astronomy

This quotation is from Professor Peter Oppeneer of Uppsala University. Together with three colleagues, he has explained the hitherto unsolved mystery in materials science known as 'the hidden order' - how a new phase arises and why. This is a discovery that can be of great importance to our understanding of how new material properties occur, how they can be controlled and exploited in the future. The findings are now being published in the scient
For a long time researchers have attempted to develop the superconducting materials of the future that will be able to conduct energy without energy losses, something of great importance to future energy supply. But one piece of the puzzle has been missing. There are several materials that evince a clear phase transition in all thermodynamic properties when the temperature falls below a certain transitional temperature, but no one has been able to explain the new collective order in the material. Until now, this has been called the hidden order.

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