"Accomplished by a team at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and posted 30 minutes ago.

Why this is evidence: The LK-99 flake slightly levitates for both orientations of the magnetic field, meaning it is not simply a magnetized piece of iron or similar ‘magnetic material’. A simple magnetic flake would be attracted to one polarity of the strong magnet, and repelled by the other. A diamagnet would be repelled under either orientation, since it resists and expels all fields regardless of the polarity.

Caveats There is no way to verify the orientation of the strong magnet in this video, also, there are yet to be published experimental measured values of this sample. Diamagnetism is a property of superconductors but without measured and verified data, this is just suggestive of a result.

Take-away If this synthesis was indeed successful, then this material is easy enough to be made by labs other than the original research team. I would watch carefully for results out of Argonne National Lab, who are reported to be working on their own synthesis of a sample.

This overall corroborates two independent simulation studies that investigated the original Korean authors claim about material and crystal structure, and both studies supported the claims.

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.16892.pdf Shenyang National Lab: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.16040.pdf "

  • plandeka@lemmy.worldEnglish
    51·
    1 year ago

    Considering the two studies which claim that no effect was observed, I believe the original authors observed the effect but they don’t fully understand the origin.

    The original paper is so naively unprofessional in some places that it is really hard for me to think it is not genuine.

    • Buttons@programming.devEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      My first reaction to this comment was “yeah, but the quality of the paper has nothing to do with whether or not it is true”.

      On second thought, I’m not sure about that. I mean, a low quality paper isn’t a good signal, but on the other hand, the presentation of an argument doesn’t change whether or not it’s true.

      At least we know there are other labs trying to replicate, we already have rumors of some replications.

      • plandeka@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        My point was that if they would be trying to forge the results, they would likely write a better paper. Like, I have never seen nor would I use a phrase like:

        Humankind has long learned that the properties of matter stem from its structure.

        or

        It is the superconductor with the same color as typical superconductors.

        in the results section. It just reads like a student report.

        So while it does not prove whether it is correct or not, it, at least in my understanding, indicates that it is genuine. The explanation might be off, the important step of the synthesis might include adding a teaspoon of luck, but the observations/measurements part I believe. Which is what I meant by the comment.