Preempted phonon-mediated superconductivity in the infinite-layer nickelates

Nickelate superconductors are outstanding materials with intriguing analogies with the cuprates. These analogies suggest that their superconducting mechanism may be unconventional, although this fundamental question is currently under debate. Here, we scrutinize the role played by electronic correlations in enhancing the electron -phonon coupling in the infinite -layer nickelates and the extent to which this may promote superconductivity. Specifically, we use ab initio many -body perturbation theory to perform state-of-the-art GW and Eliashberg-theory calculations. We find that the electron -phonon coupling is effectively enhanced compared to pure density -functional -theory calculations. This enhancement may lead to low-Tc superconductivity in the parent compounds already. However, it remains marginal in the sense that it cannot explain the record Tcs obtained with doping. This circumstance implies that conventional superconductivity is preempted by another pairing mechanism in the infinite -layer nickelates.