Equation 9 · Part 2 · From Origins to Frontier: A History of Quantum and Condensed-Matter Systems
subscript
subscript
What this part means
The lower label selects a particular version, component, or indexed member of the quantity. For example, x₀ and xₜ can be values at different positions.
Its job in the formula
A subscript distinguishes a version, component, step, or member of a quantity. It does not automatically mean multiplication.
Full expression→subscript→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Müller, working at IBM’s Zurich research laboratory, tested that assumption anyway, systematically substituting elements into a family of copper-oxide perovskites. In a barium-doped lanthanum copper oxide compound, they found a sharp drop in resistivity beginning near 35 kelvin — still cold by ordinary standards, but 12 kelvin above the prior record, in a material class nobody expected to superconduct at all. They published cautiously, titling the paper “Possible High- Superconductivity in the Ba-La-Cu-O System” in Zeitschrift für Physik B in April 1986 [ 4 ] . The paper drew no citations for the rest of that year. Once other laboratories reproduced and then…
Learn the underlying idea
A subscript is a label attached below a symbol. It often selects a time step, component, category, or member of a sequence.
Open the illustrated subscripts: which member of a family? guide →
Sources cited in the surrounding passage
- [4] This month in physics history: April 1986 — Bednorz and Muller discover high-temperature superconductivity ↗
- [5] Perovskite-Type Oxides — The New Approach to High-Tc Superconductivity (Nobel Lecture) ↗
These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.