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arXiv:1111.1519 · Physical Review B

Exact expectation values within Richardson's approach for the pairing Hamiltonian in a macroscopic system

G. Gorohovsky, Eldad Bettelheim

Published Dec 14, 2011• 19 citations

Abstract

BCS superconductivity is explained by a simple Hamiltonian describing an attractive pairing interaction between pairs of electrons. The Hamiltonian may be treated using a mean-field method, which is adequate to study equilibrium properties and a variety of nonequilibrium effects. Nevertheless, in certain nonequilibrium situations, even in a macroscopic rather than a microscopic superconductor, the application of mean-field theory may not be valid. In such cases, one may resort to the full solution of the Hamiltonian, as given by Richardson in the 1960s. The relevance of Richardson's solution to macroscopic nonequilibrium superconductors was pointed out recently based on the existence of quantum instabilities out of equilibrium. It is then of interest to obtain analytical expressions for expectation values between exact eigenvalues of the pairing Hamiltonian within the Richardson approach for macroscopic systems. We undertake this task in the current paper. It should be noted that Richardson's approach yields the full set of eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian, while BCS theory yields only a subset. The results obtained here, then, generalize the familiar BCS expressions (e.g., for the electron occupation or pairing correlations) to cases where the spectrum of excitations diverges from BCS theory (e.g., in cases where the spectrum exhibits multiple gaps).

DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.84.224503

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BCS superconductivity is explained by a simple Hamiltonian describing an attractive pairing interaction between pairs of electrons. The Hamiltonian may be treated using a mean-field method, which is adequate to study equilibrium properties and a variety of nonequilibrium effects. Nevertheless, in certain nonequilibrium situations, even in a macroscopic rather than a microscopic superconductor, the application of mean-field theory may not be valid. In such cases, one may resort to the full solution of the Hamiltonian, as given by Richardson in the 1960s. The relevance of Richardson's solution to macroscopic nonequilibrium superconductors was pointed out recently based on the existence of quantum instabilities out of equilibrium. It is then of interest to obtain analytical expressions for expectation values between exact eigenvalues of the pairing Hamiltonian within the Richardson approach for macroscopic systems. We undertake this task in the current paper. It should be noted that Richardson's approach yields the full set of eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian, while BCS theory yields only a subset. The results obtained here, then, generalize the familiar BCS expressions (e.g., for the electron occupation or pairing correlations) to cases where the spectrum of excitations diverges from BCS theory (e.g., in cases where the spectrum exhibits multiple gaps).

The dynamics of BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) superconductors is fairly well understood due to the availability of a mean-field solution for the pairing Hamiltonian, a solution which gives the quantum state of a superconductor as a state of almost-free fermions interacting only with a condensate. As a result, transition probabilities may be computed, and expressed in terms of matrix elements of electron creation and annihilation operators between approximate eigenstates. These matrix elements are also called ``coherence factors.'' Mean-field theory is however not sufficient to describe all eigenstates of a superconductor, a deficiency which is hardly important in (or very close to) equilibrium, but one that becomes relevant in certain out-of-equilibrium situations. We report here on a computation of matrix elements (coherence factors) for the pairing Hamiltonian between any ``two-arc'' eigenstates in the thermodynamic limit.

The exact solution of the reduced pairing Hamiltonian is compared to the BCS mean field approximation for low particle numbers in finite systems. A combination of two different methods for solving the Richardson equations is presented. One of the methods originally intended to be solved analytically is instead adapted to a numerical scheme. The comparison includes the pairing gap parameter, as approximated by the three-point formula in the exact solution, and a microcanonical investigation of systems with levels of varying degeneracies. The gaps as calculated within the two approaches is found to deviate more and more from each other with increasing pairing strength. However testing the three-point-formula with the BCS approximation suggests that this might be due to the formula itself. Furthermore the BCS approximation, when re-evaluating the gap for each excitation, does a very good job at reproducing the energy spectra as obtained for the Richardson solution of the highly excited states where the pairing effects are small. However for the low lying excitations the assessment is not so good. When keeping the gap constant for all excitations the excitation spectra of the BCS approximation broaden a lot more than that of the exact method. This procedure gives unreasonable results for the systems and low particle numbers considered.

The use of exactly solvable Richardson-Gaudin models to describe the physics of systems with strong pair correlations is reviewed. The article begins with a brief discussion of Richardson's early work, which demonstrated the exact solvability of the pure pairing model, and then shows how that work has evolved recently into a much richer class of exactly solvable models. The Richardson solution leads naturally to an exact analogy between these quantum models and classical electrostatic problems in two dimensions. This analogy is then used to demonstrate formally how BCS theory emerges as the large-

N

limit of the pure pairing Hamiltonian. Several applications to problems of relevance to condensed-matter physics, nuclear physics, and the physics of confined systems are considered. Some of the interesting effects that are discussed in the context of these exactly solvable models include (i) the crossover from superconductivity to a fluctuation-dominated regime in small metallic grains; (ii) the role of the nucleon Pauli principle in suppressing the effects of high-spin bosons in interacting boson models of nuclei, and (iii) the possibility of fragmentation in confined boson systems. Interesting insight is also provided into the origin of the superconducting phase transition both in two-dimensional electronic systems and in atomic nuclei, based on the electrostatic image of the corresponding exactly solvable quantum pairing models.

We address the problem of two pairs of fermions living on an arbitrary number of single particle levels of a potential well (mean field) and interacting through a pairing force. The associated solutions of the Richardson’s equations are classified in terms of a number vl, which reduces to the seniority v in the limit of large values of the pairing strength G and yields the number of pairs not developing a collective behaviour, their energy remaining finite in the G → ∞ limit. We express analytically, through the moments of the single particle levels distribution, the collective mode energy and the two critical values G + cr and G − cr of the coupling which can exist on a single particle level with no pair degeneracy. Notably G + cr and G − cr merge when the number of single particle levels goes to infinity, where they coincide with the Gcr (when it exists) of a one pair system, not envisioned by the Richardson theory. In correspondence of Gcr the system undergoes a transition from a mean field to a pairing dominated regime. We finally explore the behaviour of the excitation energies, wave functions and pair transfer amplitudes finding out that the former, for G> G − cr, come close to the BCS predictions, whereas the latter display a divergence at Gcr, signaling the onset of a long range off-diagonal order in the system. PACS numbers: 21.60.-n, 21.30 Fe, 24.10.Cn 1 1

A BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) superconductor, which is placed out of equilibrium, can develop quantum instabilities, which manifest themselves in oscillations of the superconductor's order parameter (pairing amplitude Δ). These instabilities are manifestations of the Cooper instability. Inelastic collisions are essential in resolving those instabilities. Incorporating the quantum instabilities and collisions in a unified approach based on Richardson's exact solution of the pairing Hamiltonian, we find that a BCS superconductor may end up in a state in which the spectrum has more than one gap.