The Meissner effect does not require radial charge flow

TL;DR

The paper argues that the Meissner effect can be explained without radial charge flow, challenging the alternative theory that attributes it to Lorentz force acting on such flow.

Contribution

It clarifies that the conventional explanation based on quantization suffices, and radial charge flow is not necessary for the Meissner effect.

Findings

Persistent current arises from quantization, not radial charge flow.

The experimental fact of quantization cannot be explained by Lorentz force alone.

Radial charge flow is not required to explain the Meissner effect.

Abstract

The Meissner effect is the expulsion of magnetic flux from the interior of a bulk superconductor in the presence of the constant critical magnetic field by the persistent current circulating near the surface of the superconductor. The conventional theory of superconductivity explains the appearance of the persistent current in the Meissner effect and other macroscopic quantum phenomena observed in superconductors as a consequence of the quantization of angular momentum of Cooper pairs. According to the alternative theory of hole superconductivity the persistent current appears due to the Lorentz force acting on a radial charge flow rather than due to quantization. Therefore, the author of this theory, Jorge Hirsch, argues in his numerous publications that a radial charge flow is required to explain the Meissner effect. This article draws attention to the fact that the appearance of the persistent current because of quantization is not only the statement of the conventional theory of superconductivity, but first of all the experimental fact that cannot be explained using the Lorentz force. Therefore, the explanation of the Meissner effect does not require radial charge flow.