Bernoulli Potential in Superconductors: How the Electrostatic Field Helps to Understand Superconductivity

ISBN-13: 9783642092534 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 268 str.

Pavel Lipavsky;Jan Kolacek;Klaus Morawetz

Opis

There are many monographs and textbooks addressing superconductivity from di?erent angles. In spite of a large variety of explored approaches, one problem is always left aside. It is the balance of forces acting on the sup- conducting condensate. In the present book this question is central. As the title suggests, there is a close analogy between the electrostatic ?eld in superconductors and the pressure in the ideal incompressible liquid. As one can easily imagine looking at swirling water, molecules of the inc- pressible liquid are accelerated by gradients of the pressure so that they can follow complicated trajectories often changing their directions and velocities. Electronsinthe superconductorbehavesimilarly, exceptthatthe electrostatic potential plays the role of the pressure. The pressure in any material develops when we reduce its volume. This leads us to the main puzzle. By de?nition, the incompressible liquid never changes its volume. Consequently, how can be any pressure there? Of course, one has the direct experience that there is a pressure in water and one would never deny it. The incompressible liquid is an ideal model which assumes that the pressure we feel has been achieved with a negligibly small change of the volume

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"The book consists of sixteen chapters, a conclusion and three appendices. Each chapter is accompanied with a summary, a set of exercises, a detailed list of references from the classical to the latest contributions in the literature, and suggestions for further reading. The book is aimed at graduate students in physics and researchers entering the field, and clearly serves as a modern introduction to the topic. ... I found the book very accessible, clearly written, and a real pleasure to read." (Ayman Kachmar, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2008 j)

"The book is devoted to statement of analogy between the electrostatic field in superconductors and the pressure in the ideal incompressible liquid on the base of force balance acting on the superconducting condensate. ... In total, this sound and thorough book on application of electrostatic force approach to the superconductors, written in the sufficiently simple ... ." (I. A. Parinov, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1189, 2010)

Spis treści

History of the Bernoulli Potential.- Basic Concepts.- Balance of Forces.- Thermodynamical Correction.- Phenomenological Description.- Non-local Corrections.- Extended Ginzburg–Landau Theory.- Quasi-neutral Limit.- Diamagnetic Current at Surface.- Surfaces.- Matching of Electrostatic Potentials at Surfaces.- Diamagnetic Currents Deep in the Bulk.- Electrostatic Potential Above a Surface with Vortices.- Layered Structures.- Charge Transfer in Layered Structures.- Effect of the Electrostatic Field on the Superconductor.- Outlook and Perspectives.

Blurb

The motion of electrons in superconductors seems to defy our imagination based on daily experience with Newtonian mechanics. This book shows that the classical concepts, such as the balance of forces acting on electrons, are useful for understanding superconductivity. The electrostatic field plays a natural part in this balance as it mediates forces between electrons at long distances. Due to its classical interpretation, the theory presented in this book is suitable for introductory courses.