Metal-superconductor transition at zero temperature: A case of unusual scaling

Abstract

An effective field theory is derived for the normal metal-to-superconductor quantum phase transition at T=0. The critical behavior is determined exactly for all dimensions d>2. Although the critical exponents βand νdo not exist, the usual scaling relations, properly reinterpreted, still hold. A complete scaling description of the transition is given, and the physics underlying the unusual critical behavior is discussed. Quenched disorder leads to anomalously strong T_c-fluctuations which are shown to explain the experimentally observed broadening of the transition in low-T_c thin films.

4 pp., no figs, final version as published

References in corpus (2)

• Quantum critical behavior of disordered itinerant ferromagnets
• Quantum critical behavior of clean itinerant ferromagnets

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