Maintaining the local temperature below the critical value in thermally out of equilibrium superconducting wires

TL;DR

This paper develops a generalized open quantum systems theory combined with mean-field theory to demonstrate that superconducting wires can remain below their critical temperature despite contact with thermal baths at different temperatures, with implications for experimental testing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical framework to analyze non-equilibrium superconducting wires and predicts conditions under which they stay superconducting despite high bath temperatures.

Findings

Superconducting wires can stay below critical temperature even with hot baths.

Contact area and disorder influence the temperature regulation in the wire.

An experimental setup is proposed to validate the theoretical predictions.

Abstract

A generalized theory of open quantum systems combined with mean-field theory is used to study a superconducting wire in contact with thermal baths at different temperatures. It is shown that, depending on the temperature of the colder bath, the temperature of the hotter bath can greatly exceed the equilibrium critical temperature, and still the local temperature in the wire is maintained below the critical temperature and hence the wire remains in the superconducting state. The effects of contact areas and disorder are studied. Finally, an experimental setup is suggested to test our predictions.