Joule heating in the normal-superconductor phase transition in a magnetic field

Abstract

Joule heating is a non-equilibrium dissipative process that occurs in a normal metal when an electric current flows, in an amount proportional to the metal's resistance. When it is induced by eddy currents resulting from a change in magnetic flux, it is also proportional to the rate at which the magnetic flux changes. Here we show that in the phase transformation between normal and superconducting states of a metal in a magnetic field, the total amount of Joule heating is determined by the thermodynamic properties of the system and is independent of the resistivity of the normal metal. We also show that Joule heating only occurs in the normal region of the material. The conventional theory of superconductivity however predicts that Joule heating occurs also in the superconducting region within a London penetration depth of the phase boundary. This implies that there is a problem with the conventional theory of superconductivity.

References in corpus (2)

• Momentum of superconducting electrons and the explanation of the Meissner effect
• Inconsistency of the conventional theory of superconductivity

Cited by in corpus (7)

• The law of entropy increase and the Meissner effect
• Dynamic processes in superconductors and the laws of thermodynamics
• Belief in thermodynamics has provoked false thermodynamics of superconductors
• Comment on "Reversible superconducting-normal phase transition in a magnetic field and the existence of topologically protected loop currents that appear and disappear without Joule heating" by Hiroyasu Koizumi
• A problem with the conservation law observed in macroscopic quantum phenomena is a consequence of violation of the correspondence principle
• The Meissner effect in superconductors: emergence versus reductionism
• What holes in superconductors reveal about superconductivity