在陨石中首次发现了超导性

在陨石中首次发现了超导性

Scientists have found naturally occurring superconducting materials in extraterrestrial objects for the first time, discovering superconductive grains embedded inside two distinct meteorites that crash-landed on Earth.

科学家首次在地外天体中发现了自然存在的超导物质，发现了嵌入在两颗坠落地球的不同陨石中的超导颗粒。

The discovery is just the latest to show that meteorites are much more than space debris that falls out of the sky. Recent investigations have turned up meteorite-borne deliveries of possible extraterrestrial proteins, minerals we've never encountered, and materials older than the Solar System itself. But we've never seen something quite like this before.

这一最新发现表明，陨石远不只是天上掉下来的太空碎片。最近的研究发现，可能是陨石携带的外星蛋白质、我们从未见过的矿物质，以及比太阳系本身更古老的物质。但我们从未见过这样的景象。

Superconductivity is a set of physical properties that ensures 'perfect' electrical conductivity in a material, meaning all electrical resistance inside the material vanishes, among other effects. This prized phenomenon is incredibly rare in natural materials that haven't been specially treated – or, at least, it's rare on Earth.

超导性是一套物理特性，它确保了材料的“完美”导电性，这意味着材料内部的所有电阻都会消失，还有其他影响。这种珍贵的现象在未经特殊处理的天然材料中极为罕见，至少在地球上是罕见的。

In the distant sky above, things could be very, very different, researchers say, with extreme environments in space creating exotic material phases not seen on Earth, via astronomical events that can unleash incredibly high temperatures and extremely high amounts of pressure.

研究人员说，在遥远的天空中，情况可能会非常、非常不同，太空中的极端环境会通过天文事件产生地球上看不到的奇异物质相，这些事件会释放出难以置信的高温和极高的压力。

Because of this, the thinking goes, meteorites could be good candidates for finding naturally formed superconducting materials forged in the strangeness of space. The only problem is, previous searches have never identified any such superconducting compounds. At least, not until now.

正因为如此，人们认为，陨石可能是在太空的奇异环境中发现自然形成的超导材料的良好候选。唯一的问题是，之前的研究从未发现过这种超导化合物。至少到现在还没有。

In a new study led by researchers from UC San Diego, scientists investigated fragments from 15 different meteorites, using a technique called magnetic field modulated microwave spectroscopy to detect traces of superconductivity inside the samples.

在一项由加州大学圣地亚哥分校的研究人员领导的新研究中，科学家们研究了15种不同陨石的碎片，使用一种称为磁场调制微波光谱的技术，来检测样品内部的超导性痕迹。

They got two hits: one, in an iron meteorite called Mundrabilla, one of the largest meteorites ever found, which was discovered in Australia in 1911; the other, a rare ureilite meteorite called GRA 95205, located in Antarctica a quarter-century ago.

他们成功找到了两颗陨石：一颗是在1911年在澳大利亚发现的最大的陨石之一，叫做孟德拉比拉的铁陨石中;另一颗是在四分之一世纪前在南极洲发现的一种罕见的叫做GRA95205的铀陨石。

According to the team's measurements, which also drew upon vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) methods, both of these space rocks contain minute amounts of extraterrestrial superconductive grains.

根据研究小组的测量结果，同时借鉴了振动样品磁强计(VSM)和能量色散X射线谱(EDX)方法，这两种太空岩石都含有微量的地外超导颗粒。

"Naturally occurring superconductive materials are unusual, but they are particularly significant because these materials could be superconducting in extraterrestrial environments," says physicist and nanoscientist James Wampler.

物理学家和纳米科学家詹姆斯沃普勒说：“自然产生的超导材料是不寻常的，但它们特别重要，因为这些材料在外星环境中可能是超导的。”。