Quantum excitations of static charges in the Ginzburg-Landau model of superconductivity

TL;DR

This paper explores localized quantum excitations around static charges in superconductors, revealing new states beyond traditional screening, supported by lattice Monte Carlo simulations in a Ginzburg-Landau framework.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of localized quantum excitations in superconductors and demonstrates their existence through lattice Monte Carlo calculations.

Findings

Existence of localized quantum excitations around static charges.

These excitations are distinct from the ground state plus massive photons.

Monte Carlo simulations support the theoretical predictions.

Abstract

We point out that in superconductors there may exist localized quantum excitations of the electric and condensate fields surrounding a static charge, which cannot be interpreted as simply the ground state of the screened charge plus some number of massive photons. This is illustrated via a lattice Monte Carlo calculation of the energy spectrum of a pair of separated static charges in an effective Ginzburg-Landau model of superconductivity.