Terra Quantum, a quantum technology company based in Germany and Switzerland, has discovered the first-ever experimental proof of Polyakov’s strings, the systematic process of allowing quark confinement and superinsulation in elementary particles, a phenomenon in the field of science that is still left unresolved until today. This breakthrough establishes a link between high energy and condensed matter physics.
The research study, Relaxation electrodynamics of superinsulators, led by A. Mironov, M. C. Diamantini, C. A. Trugenberger & V. M. Vinokur, published last November 19, 2022, in Nature, was the first ever experiment to give complete evidence for Polyakov’s strings by measuring linear potential in superinsulators, confirming that the condensation of magnetic monopoles causes the confinement phenomena. The findings corroborate the notion that superinsulators are based on monopole-induced confinement, providing the first indirect experimental proof for magnetic monopoles’ existence.
According to the research study, superinsulators are mirror twins of superconductors. They have reversed electric and magnetic field effects. The measurements of dynamical exponents describing current passage relaxation prove the existence of two electric states of superinsulators, the Meissner state, in which the electric field is expelled from the sample, and the mixed state, in which the electric field penetrates the superinsulator in the form of electric filaments or electric strings. The findings pave the way for further research into fundamental strong interaction charge confinement using desktop experiments.
Professor Dr. Valerii Vinokur, Terra Quantum’s US Chief Technology Officer, and his team experimentally demonstrated the electric string mechanism responsible for the absence of conductance in superinsulators, which Cristina Diamantini and Carlo Trugenberger initially predicted in the year 1996. Valerii Vinokur then experimentally discovered the Superinsulation with Tatiana Baturina and Alexey Mironov, who also directed the current measurements. Valerii Vinokur, Cristina Diamantini, and Carlo Trugenberger published the superinsulation theory in 2018.
“We are proud to have made a discovery confirming one of the main scientific theoretical
ProfESSOR Dr. Valerii Vinokur, Terra Quantum’s US Chief Technology Officer
achievements in fundamental physics explaining the nature of elementary particles that make
up ordinary matter. It demonstrates that Terra Quantum is not only a technology leader but is
also successfully pushing the boundaries of science. This discovery lays the groundwork to
help shape the future of humanity with technological developments.”
Researchers have debated and researched the newly discovered confinement phenomenon for decades, as it has been one of the most prominent unresolved phenomena in particle science up until now.
“In our opinion, this is one of the major challenges of theoretical physics, This subject is twenty years old, but the last word on it has not yet been spoken.”
Professor Alexander Polyakov, WORLD-LEADING PHYSICISTS
The nature of the confinement phenomenon that enables superinsulation – the inverse of superconductivity, discovered in 1911, which led to the development of the most prominent type of quantum computer – creates a pathway towards accelerated advances in quantum technologies.
The Terra Quantum team’s next steps will be studying the physics of an ensemble of these Polyakov strings and other profound repercussions of their presence.
Learn more about it here.