Spin fluctuations sufficient to mediate superconductivity in nickelates

Many mechanisms for unconventional superconductivity have been proposed, but actually proving which one is in charge is challenging. Quite astonishingly, dynamical vertex approximation predict the superconducting phase diagram of novel nickelate superconductors, with the microscopic origin being antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations. The authors compare the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations behind these calculations to experiment. The again good agreement gives an overall coherent and complete picture, and thus a high level of confidence that superconductivity in nickelates is indeed mediated by spin fluctuations.