Electrical Resistance of Hydrides Under High Pressure: Evidence of Superconductivity or Confirmation Bias?

Abstract

During the past 9 years, extensive experimental evidence has been presented that is claimed to demonstrate that hydrogen-rich materials under high pressure are high-temperature superconductors, as predicted by conventional BCS-electron–phonon theory. Foremost among the experimental evidence are electrical resistance measurements, which claimed to show that the resistivity of these materials falls well below that of the best normal metals within experimental accuracy. Here I propose an alternative explanation for the vanishingly small resistance reported for these materials that does not involve superconductivity.