--- title: Photons that aren’t actually there influence... description: Researchers have found that virtual photons — non-existent particles predicted by quantum field theory that mediate electromagnetic forces — can influence the... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/photons-that-aren-t-actually-there-influence-superconductivity-rmpvyczwz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Photons that aren’t actually there influence superconductivity | daily.dev og:description: Researchers have found that virtual photons — non-existent particles predicted by quantum field theory that mediate electromagnetic forces — can influence the... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/photons-that-aren-t-actually-there-influence-superconductivity-rmpvyczwz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/rmPvYCZWz.png og:image:alt: Photons that aren’t actually there influence superconductivity og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Photons that aren’t actually there influence superconductivity **[Ars Technica](https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Researchers have found that virtual photons — non-existent particles predicted by quantum field theory that mediate electromagnetic forces — can influence the behavior of superconductors, degrading their performance. The work uses superconductivity as a testbed for exploring quantum mechanical phenomena, particularly how strong electromagnetic fields in materials like boron nitride can be filled with virtual photons even in the absence of real ones. While not directly relevant to room-temperature superconductivity, the findings may eventually yield insights into superconducting behavior. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Physicists uncover hidden magnetic order in the mysterious pseudogap phase](https://daily.dev/posts/physicists-uncover-hidden-magnetic-order-in-the-mysterious-pseudogap-phase-v5v8musyq) · Phys.org · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/photons-that-aren-t-actually-there-influence-superconductivity-rmpvyczwz) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Photons that aren’t actually there influence superconductivity","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/photons-that-aren-t-actually-there-influence-superconductivity-rmpvyczwz","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/photons-that-aren-t-actually-there-influence-superconductivity-rmpvyczwz"},"datePublished":"2026-02-27T22:53:45.774Z","dateModified":"2026-02-27T22:54:04.510Z","description":"Researchers have found that virtual photons — non-existent particles predicted by quantum field theory that mediate electromagnetic forces — can influence the...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/eac39eaa38747d2d20bff5336fcf125b?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/eac39eaa38747d2d20bff5336fcf125b?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Ars Technica","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Ars Technica","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/80883e0e48a34b5ebcf93777016cb3fe","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/photons-that-aren-t-actually-there-influence-superconductivity-rmpvyczwz","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ars Technica","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Photons that aren’t actually there influence superconductivity"}]} ```