Photons that aren't actually there influence superconductivity

Despite the headline, this isn't really a story about superconductivity—at least not the superconductivity that people care about, the stuff that doesn't require exotic refrigeration to work. Instead, it's a story about how superconductivity can be used as a test of some of the weirder consequences of quantum mechanics, one that involves non-existent particles of light that still act like they exist.

Researchers have found a way to get these virtual photons to influence the behavior of a superconductor, ultimately making it worse.