So, it's easy to imagine how this could be faked.
Doing a quick sanity check on youtube videos, every example I can find of it levitating involves use of magnet arrays as well.
It appears he was a latecomer to the project, mostly borrowing his reputation to the trio of anonymous, non anglosphere native original authors.
The original authors have something. They don't have the expertise in condensed matter physics to really know what. They don't know how to report results and what results would be conclusive. Their work is simply not convincing, and if they were experts they would also not be convinced.
That's why they brought in another collaborator who is an expert. But because the paper was released early it's clearly a mess. You can see the big quality improvement though just between the two drafts.
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/jou...
It's a pretty common practice across science.
For actual flux pinning, the first thing you would do is show what happens if you put the thing upside down. It should stick. Even if it does not, you would show that it does not.
So what I'm saying is that even if it's reasonable to deduce that this supposed magnet is being suspended from a string, it doesn't look like it is. If it is fake, it's a well-done illusion not a shoddy illusion.
In all likelyhood, your answer would be: Yes, it does.
It's clear however that a lot of us (myself included) don't want to see a speck of dirt on a string. They want to see history in the making.
I have no idea what I’m talking about, but in other flux pinning demonstrations the sample seems to oscillate around the fixed point. That smooth settling looks like some sort of damping, like maybe a force that increases with distance, like maybe spring tension.
(Of course, “we have no idea” is an acceptable answer if that turns out to be the case.)
> (Of course, “we have no idea” is an acceptable answer if that turns out to be the case.)
Of course.
(FWIW I’m thrilled about the possibility of a rtrp drop this year, and I have to assume 'pera is as well. But this video doesn’t look just like flux pinning we’ve seen before. It’s visibly a little different in a way that wants explanation. I wouldn’t come out the gate calling it a hoax, but I’d feel better about not doing that if the basis for skepticism were at least acknowledged.)
If I had a magnet that was much bigger than the superconductor it would look even more similar (less 'pivoty').
OP's video has two stacked metal objects – could the lower one possibly contain copper?
Edit: relevant Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin-stabilized_magnetic_levit...
If this is fake, it's a very well-done fake. I'm feeling 60% sure that LK-99 is RT superconductor at this point. It has theoretical support now since last weekend.