We present a first-principles study of the electron-phonon interaction and the prediction of the superconducting critical temperature in molecular metallic hydrogen. Our study is able to single out the features which drive the system towards superconductivity: mainly, a rich and complex Fermi surface and strongly coupled phonon modes driving the intra- or intermolecular charge transfer. We demonstrate that in this simple system, a very high superconducting critical temperature can be reached via electron-phonon and Coulomb electron-electron interactions.

• Received 7 December 2007
• Corrected 27 June 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.257001