Magnetic-interaction-induced superconductivity in metals

TL;DR

This paper develops a microscopic theory explaining how magnetic interactions induce superconductivity in metals, deriving a formula for T_C that aligns well with experimental data and predicts higher T_C in lower-dimensional structures.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel microscopic theory linking magnetic interactions to superconductivity, providing a new formula for T_C that accounts for electron degrees of freedom and dimensionality.

Findings

T_C depends on electron density, magnetic field, and degrees of freedom.

Calculated T_C values match experimental data for various metals.

T_C increases as the dimensionality of the metal decreases.

Abstract

In this paper, a microscopic theory of magnetic-interaction-induced pairing in superconductivity of metals was developed on the basis of four idealized assumptions: (1) only a small number of electrons are involved in superconductivity; (2) magnetic interactions between electron spins lead to superconductivity; (3) there are different electronic states, i.e., doubly-occupied, singly-occupied (spin up or down) and empty states; (4) the average kinetic energy of electrons complies with the equipartition theorem of energy. A formula to estimate T_C was thus derived. It was found that, T_C is not only related to the electron density and the critical magnetic field, but also to the degrees of freedom of electrons. The T_C values calculated from this formula are in good agreement with the experimental results for most metals. According to this theory, T_C generally increases with decreasing dimension of metals. For example, T_C in the 3-dimensional (3D) Al metal is 1.19K, but increases to 1.46K in 2D and 2.06K in 1D.