Physical Review
Theory of a Superfluid Fermi Liquid. I. General Formalism and Static Properties
A. J. Leggett
Abstract
The microscopic theory of a superfluid Fermi liquid at finite temperature is developed for the case of a pure system with $S$-wave pairing, and applied to the calculation of the static properties. As a function of $\ensuremath{\theta}\ensuremath{\equiv}\frac{T}{{T}_{c}}$ these properties are determined entirely by the Landau parameters ${F}_{0}$, ${F}_{1}$, ${Z}_{0}$, etc., characterizing quasiparticle interactions in the normal phase. In particular the spin susceptibility $\ensuremath{\chi}$ and the density of the normal component ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{n}$ are given by $\frac{\ensuremath{\chi}(\ensuremath{\theta})}{\ensuremath{\chi}(1)}=(1+\frac{1}{4}{Z}_{0})\frac{f(\ensuremath{\theta})}{[1+\frac{1}{4}{Z}_{0}f(\ensuremath{\theta})]},$ $\frac{{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{n}}{\ensuremath{\rho}}=(1+\frac{1}{3}{F}_{1})\frac{f(\ensuremath{\theta})}{[1+\frac{1}{3}{F}_{1}f(\ensuremath{\theta})]},$ where the universal function $f(\ensuremath{\theta})\ensuremath{\equiv}\ensuremath{-}{[\ensuremath{\nu}(0)]}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}_{\mathrm{p}}(\frac{\mathrm{dn}}{d{E}_{\mathrm{p}}})$ is the "effective density of states near the Fermi surface" relative to its value $\ensuremath{\nu}(0)$ in the normal phase. Thus the often-quoted expression ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{n}=\frac{1}{3}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}_{\mathrm{p}}{\mathrm{p}}^{2}(\frac{\mathrm{dn}}{d{E}_{\mathrm{p}}})$ is valid for an interacting system only in the limit $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$. In the latter part of the paper a simple phenomenological theory of "Fermi-liquid" effects on $\ensuremath{\chi}$ and ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{n}$ is developed for arbitrary conditions (including the presence of impurities and pairing with $l\ensuremath{\ne}0$); it is found that under most circumstances explicit expressions for $\ensuremath{\chi}$ and ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{n}$ may be obtained which involve only the Landau parameters and a suitably generalized effective density of states. The theory should apply to the possible superfluid phase of ${\mathrm{He}}^{3}$ and to most superconductors. It is suggested that the Knight shift in nontransition-metal superconductors should display some "Fermi-liquid" effects. The weak-field dc penetration depth $\ensuremath{\lambda}(T)$ is shown to be insensitive to such effects both in the Pippard limit and near ${T}_{c}$; however, in a London superconductor at lower temperatures the correction to $\ensuremath{\lambda}(T)$ should be observable and yield a direct estimate of ${F}_{1}$.