ALT EDITORS' SUGGESTION Decoupling of static and dynamic charge correlations revealed by uniaxial strain in a cuprate superconductor 28 July, 2025 The anomalous softening of the high-energy phonon modes in cuprate superconductors has remained puzzling for two decades. The authors address the problem here by using uniaxial strain with high-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering on La1.875Sr0.125CuO4. Detwinning stripe order, they demonstrate that the phonon anomalies and the fluctuations of charge order retain an in-plane four-fold symmetry, suggesting a causal relationship between the two. The decoupling of the finite-energy fluctuations from the strength of the static order suggests closeness to a quantum critical point. L. Martinelli et al. Phys. Rev. B 112, L041124 (2025)

ALT EDITORS' SUGGESTION 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. Paul Worm et al. Phys. Rev. B 109, 235126 (2024)