We develop a theory of superconductivity (or superfluidity) based on condensed fermion quartets focusing on the dilute spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ systems at zero temperature. In the spirit of the Bardeen--Cooper--Schrieffer ansatz, a variational wavefunction is constructed such that, within the so-called ``dilute quartet approximation", it is the ground state of an effective quartic Hamiltonian. For a given two-body interaction in favor of quartetting, the gap parameter is suitably defined and the gap equation is also derived. As to the excited states, an intuitive physical picture based on a sixteen-dimensional ``occupation space" is depicted and the associated eigen-energies are obtained. This theory is applied to compute the superfluid fraction, which is found to be the same as in conventional superconductors, despite the interacting nature of the quartet problem.
We develop a theory of superconductivity (or superfluidity) based on condensed fermion quartets focusing on the dilute spin-21 systems at zero temperature. In the spirit of the Bardeen--Cooper--Schrieffer ansatz, a variational wavefunction is constructed such that, within the so-called dilute quartet approximation", it is the ground state of an effective quartic Hamiltonian. For a given two-body interaction in favor of quartetting, the gap parameter is suitably defined and the gap equation is also derived. As to the excited states, an intuitive physical picture based on a sixteen-dimensional occupation space" is depicted and the associated eigen-energies are obtained. This theory is applied to compute the superfluid fraction, which is found to be the same as in conventional superconductors, despite the interacting nature of the quartet problem.
Fundamentals of fermion-condensation physics are outlined. Fermion condensation is a phase transition occurring in a strongly correlated Fermi system upon a topological reconstruction of the Landau ground state and leading to the formation of a fermion condensate that possesses the dispersionless single-particle spectrum ϵ(p)=0 in the momentum-space region adjacent to the Fermi surface and, accordingly, an anomalously enhanced density of single-particle states. A original method is developed for solving the set of nonlinear integral equations of fermion-condensation theory. This method makes it possible to analyze the problem of quantum chaos in strongly interacting multifermion systems. The computational technique used is demonstrated by applying it to superdense quark–gluon plasma, where the structure of exchange quark–quark interaction is well known. In electron systems featuring a fermion condensate, the magnitude of the gap appearing in the single-particle spectrum owing to Cooper pairing is shown to be much larger than that in Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) theory. This explains both a high superconducting-transition temperature Tc and, with allowance for C4 crystal-lattice symmetry, the D -wave pairing-gap structure observed in cuprates. It is found that, in addition to the BCS gap Δ , the spectrum of single-particle excitations of superconducting systems where a fermion condensate is present develops a nonsuperconducting gap Υ that owes its existence to the interaction of condensate particles with normal quasiparticles residing outside the condensate region in momentum space. The question of whether these results are pertinent to the two-gap structure recently unearthed in the excitation spectrum of cuprates upon analyzing ARPES data is addressed.
We introduce a new fermionic variational wavefunction, generalizing the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) wavefunction, which is suitable for interacting multi-species spinful systems and sustaining superfluidity. Applications range from quark matter to the high temperature superconductors. A wide class of Hamiltonians, comprising interactions and hybridization of arbitrary momentum dependence between different fermion species, can be treated in a comprehensive manner. This is the case, as both the intra-species and the inter-species interactions are treated on equally rigorous footing, which is accomplished via the introduction of a new quantum index attached to the fermions. The index is consistent with known fermionic physics, and allows for heretofore unaccounted for fermion-fermion correlations. We have derived the finite temperature version of the theory, thus obtaining the renormalized quasiparticle dispersion relations, and we discuss the appearance of charge and spin density wave order. We present numerical solutions for two electron species in 2 dimensions. Based on these solutions, we show that, for equivalent spin up and down fermions, the Fermi occupation factor (per spin) equals 1/2 deep in the Fermi sea. This constitutes a unique experimental prediction of the theory, both for the normal and superfluid states. Interestingly, this result, obtained in the thermodynamic limit, is consistent with Fermi occupation factor (in-)equalities for finite systems of electrons, derived (in a different context) by Borland and Dennis, J. Phys. B {\bf 5}, 7 (1972) and by Altunbulak and Klyachko, Commun. Math. Phys. {\bf 282}, 287 (2008).
We theoretically investigate a quartet superfluid state in fermionic matter by using the quartet Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) variational theory and the Green's function method. We demonstrate that the quartet BCS theory with the multiple-infinite-product ansatz successfully reproduces an exact four-body result in a one-dimensional four-component Fermi gas at the dilute limit, in contrast to the single-infinite-product ansatz. To see the validity of the quartet BCS state, we derive the self-consistent equation for the quartet superfluid order parameter within the generalized imaginary-time Nambu-Gor'kov formalism, which is found to be consistent with the quartet BCS variational equation. Moreover, by numerically computing the momentum-resolved single-particle spectral function in a one-dimensional system, we discuss how the single-particle spectra evolve with increasing the strength of the four-body cluster formation. We show that a coherent BCS-like quasiparticle branch on the weak-coupling side evolves into a strongly damped, continuum-dominated spectrum in the strong-coupling side, while nonzero quartet superfluid order parameter persists throughout the crossover regime. Our results would be useful for understanding beyond-BCS pairing effects and four-body cluster formations in fermionic systems in an interdisciplinary way.
The two-particle spectrum in a dense Fermion system is treated using a thermodynamic Green function approach. A self-consistent description of possible bound states and a superfluid condensate in a correlated medium is given. A detailed understanding of superfluidity and superconductivity in correlated Fermion systems, especially the transition from the Cooper-paired state (weak-coupling limit) to the Bose condensed state of tightly bound pairs of Fermions (strong coupling limit) [1], is of great interest for very different physical systems. The problem of a unified treatment of Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) and the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) phase arises not only in describing the electron structure of strongly correlated electron superfluids such as superconductors [2], the electronhole system in semiconductors [3], spin-polarized hydrogen and liquid He [4], but also in the theory of nuclear matter [5] and quark–gluon systems [6]. Recently, there have been several new approaches to this stimulating problem. A Monte-Carlo simulation of a finite He system at zero temperature has been performed in Ref. [7]. The microscopic theory of strongly coupled quantum fluids has been treated within the Jastrow approximation (cf. Ref. [8]) to obtain the ground state and low-lying excited states of strongly correlated boson quantum fluids. The crossover from weak to strong coupling superconductivity has been considered using a functional integral representation [2] (see also Ref. [7]).
We study a two-dimensional continuum model of a dilute gas of fermions at T=0 interacting via a given two-body potential, with an aim to investigate superconductors with coherence length of the order of the interparticle spacing [kF${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{0}$\ensuremath{\sim}O(1)], a striking feature of the high-Tc materials. We find that a two-body bound state in vacuum is a necessary and sufficient condition for an s-wave pairing instability. We also find that the existence of such a bound state in a higher-angular-momentum (l>0) channel is not a necessary condition for an l-wave pairing instability. We further investigate using a variational ansatz the evolution from a state with large overlapping Cooper pairs (kF${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{0}$\ensuremath{\gg}1) to one with Bose condensation of composite bosons (kF${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{0}$\ensuremath{\ll}1). For the s-wave case an exact solution of the variational equations shows a smooth crossover from one regime to the other at T=0. The p-wave solution has a weak singularity when the chemical potential goes through zero, which is the bottom of the band. We show, quite generally, independent of the dimensionality and of model details, that the gap--to--single-particle excitations is nodeless, even if the anisotropic pair wave function has nodes, when the coupling is strong enough that the chemical potential is negative.
Starting from H. Fröhlich's second-quantized Hamiltonian for a d-dimensional electron gas in interaction with lattice phonons describing the quantum vibrations of a metal, we present a rigorous mathematical derivation of the superconducting state, following the principles laid out originally in 1957 by J. Bardeen, L. Cooper and J. Schrieffer. As in the series of papers written on the subject in the 90es, of which the present paper is a continuation, the representation of ions as a uniform charge background allows for a (1+d)-dimensional fermionic quantum-field theoretic reformulation of the model at equilibrium. For simplicity, we restrict in this article to d=2 dimensions and zero temperature, and disregard effects due to electromagnetic interactions. Under these assumptions, we prove transition from a Fermi liquid state to a superconducting state made up of Cooper pairs of electrons at an energy level Γϕ∼ℏωDe−π/mλ equal to the mass gap, expressed in terms of the Debye frequency ωD, electron mass m and coupling constant λ. The dynamical U(1)-symmetry breaking produces at energies lower than the energy gap Γϕ a Goldstone boson, a non-massive particle described by an effective (2+1)-dimensional non-linear sigma-model, whose parameters and correlations are computed. The proof relies on a mixture of general concepts and tools (multi-scale cluster expansions, Ward identities), adapted to this quantum many-body problem with its extended infra-red singularity located on the Fermi circle, and a specific 1/N-expansion giving the leading diagrams at intermediate energies. Ladder diagrams are proved to provide the leading behavior in the infra-red limit, in agreement with mean-field theory predictions.