Special issue on novel superconducting and magnetic materials

Superconductivity and magnetism—and their entanglement in a single material—are among the most studied phenomena in condensed matter physics and continue to pose new chal- lenges for fundamental research and exciting opportunities for technological applications. The last decade has witnessed ground-breaking discoveries in both fields: high-temperature superconductivity in compressed hydrides [1–3], unconventional superconductivity in iron- based materials [4, 5] and new types of magnetic states in spin–orbit coupled materials with topological and nematic characteristics [6]. The prediction of material-specific properties and the interpretation of superconducting and magnetic phase transitions have been crucially aided by advances in ab initio electronic structure methods within the density functional theory and its extensions [7]. This special issue gathers together selected theoretical and experimental contributions on novel aspects of superconductivity and magnetism, collected in memory of Prof. Sandro Massidda. The collection aims to provide an updated view on timing issues and challenges in this active research field that have been at the hearth of Sandro’s scientific interests. As commemorated in the obituary by Continenza and Colombo [8], Sandro has dedicated his scientific work to the development and application of ab initio computational and theoretical methods, yet never losing focus to the ultimate goal of theoretical and computational phys- ics, that is to support, complement and understand the experimental observations.