The role of the chemical potential in the BCS theory

Dragoş-Victor Anghel and George Alexandru Nemnes

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2016, vol. 464, issue C, 74-82

Abstract: We study the effect of the chemical potential on the results of the BCS theory of superconductivity. We assume that the pairing interaction is manifested between electrons of single-particle energies in an interval [μ−ħωc,μ+ħωc], where μ and ωc are parameters of the model—μ need not be equal to the chemical potential of the system, denoted here by μR. The BCS results are recovered if μ=μR. If μ≠μR the physical properties change significantly: the energy gap Δ is smaller than the BCS gap, a population imbalance appears, and the superconductor–normal metal phase transition is of the first order. The quasiparticle imbalance is an equilibrium property that appears due to the asymmetry with respect to μR of the single-particle energy interval in which the pairing potential is manifested.

Keywords: Quantum statistical mechanics; Theories and models of superconducting state; BCS theory and its development; Effects of pressure; Other effects in superconductivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:464:y:2016:i:c:p:74-82

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2016.07.070

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