The origin of the Meissner effect in new and old superconductors

Abstract

It is generally believed that superconducting materials are divided into two classes: `conventional' and `unconventional'. Conventional superconductors (the elements and thousands of compounds including $Mg{B}_2$) are described by conventional London-BCS-Eliashberg electron-phonon theory. There is no general agreement as to what mechanism or mechanisms describe `unconventional' superconductors such as the heavy fermions, organics, cuprate and pnictide families. However all superconductors, whether `conventional' or `unconventional', exhibit the Meissner effect. I argue that there is a single mechanism of superconductivity for all materials, that explains the Meissner effect and differs from the conventional mechanism in several fundamental aspects: it says that superconductivity is driven by lowering of kinetic rather than potential energy of the charge carriers, it requires conduction by holes rather than electrons in the normal state, and it predicts a non-homogeneous rigid charge distribution and an electric field in the interior of superconductors. Furthermore I argue that neither the conventional mechanism nor any of the other proposed unconventional mechanisms can explain the Meissner effect. Superconductivity in materials is discussed in the light of these concepts, some experimental predictions, connections to Dirac's theory, and connections to the superfluidity of ${}^{4}He$.

References in corpus (14)

• The Challenge of Unconventional Superconductivity
• BCS theory of superconductivity: the world's largest Madoff scheme?
• Spin Meissner Effect in Superconductors and the Origin of the Meissner Effect
• Superconductivity-induced optical anomaly in an iron arsenide
• The missing angular momentum of superconductors
• Do superconductors violate Lenz's law? Body rotation under field cooling and theoretical implications
• Kinetic energy driven superconductivity, the origin of the Meissner effect, and the reductionist frontier
• Materials and mechanisms of hole superconductivity
• Hole core in superconductors and the origin of the Spin Meissner effect
• Spin-split states in aromatic molecules and superconductors
• Kinetic energy driven superconductivity and superfluidity
• Characteristics of the electric field accompanying a longitudinal acoustic wave in a metal. Anomaly in the superconducting phase
• Electric potential of the electron sound wave: Sharp disappearance in the superconducting state
• Why holes are not like electrons. IV. Hole undressing and spin current in the superconducting state

Cited by in corpus (19)

• The London moment: what a rotating superconductor reveals about superconductivity
• Collective dynamics of an inhomogeneous two-channel exclusion process: Theory and Monte Carlo simulations
• Entropy generation and momentum transfer in the superconductor-normal and normal-superconductor phase transformations and the consistency of the conventional theory of superconductivity
• Charge expulsion, charge inhomogeneity and phase separation in dynamic Hubbard models
• Dynamic Hubbard model: kinetic energy driven charge expulsion, charge inhomogeneity, hole superconductivity, and Meissner effect
• Superconductivity, diamagnetism, and the mean inner potential of solids
• Magnetic flux expulsion in a superconducting wire
• Defying inertia: how rotating superconductors generate magnetic fields
• Kinetic energy driven superfluidity and superconductivity and the origin of the Meissner effect
• Low temperature and high magnetic field performance of a commercial piezo-actuator probed $via$ laser interferometry
• Ground State Wave Function Overlap in Superconductors and Superfluids
• Experimental consequences of predicted charge rigidity of superconductors
• Prediction of unexpected behavior of the mean inner potential of superconductors
• Apparent increase in the thickness of superconducting particles at low temperatures measured by electron holography
• Interaction-induced chiral-transport inversion
• Constraining forces causing the Meissner effect
• Megascopic Quantum Phenomena. A Critical Study of Physical Interpretations
• Interplay of Tilt and Axion Fields in Topological Superconductors: Anisotropy in the Meissner Effect
• Semi-classical understanding of flux quantization in superconductors