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 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.
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 pairing interaction is one of the most important contribution of the residual interaction and then, it is of major importance for the study of many-body systems. One can get solutions of the pairing Hamiltonian throught the Bardeen-Cooper-Schieffer (BCS) or the Lipkin-Nogami (LN) approximations but, the pairing Hamiltonian admit exact solution worked out by Richardson. Nuclei far away from the stability line have important correlations with the continuum part of the energy spectrum, due that the Fermi level is very close to the contiuum thershold. The correlations with the continuum can be included in the many-body description through the complex energy states, called Gamow states. In this work we compare the approximates and exact solutions of the pairing Hamiltonian in real and complex-energy representations. In the application of this formulation to the symmetric Lipkin model, we found that the LN solution is in a good agreement with the exact one; besides, the extension of the BCS solution to the complex energy plane gives solution even for strength below the critical one, which is purely imaginary.
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
The validity of microscopic thermal treatments in comparison with microcanonical results is analyzed for the case of a pairing interaction. The approximate evaluation of microcanonical averages by means of saddle point and moment expansion methods is also examined. Results are shown for a 20-level model, where exact microcanonical averages and level densities are compared with exact thermal results and with those given by the BCS and static path approximations. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Exact eigenstates of the pairing-force Hamiltonian have been calculated for 2N particles in 2N equispaced, doubly degenerate single-particle levels for N=4,8,12,and16. The states calculated are the ground state and the first two excited seniority-zero and seniority-two states. These states were calculated for values of the interaction strength that give pairing energies that are typical of nuclear systems. Numerical results are given for the energies and occupation probabilities of these states and are compared with the corresponding results of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. It is shown that the BCS theory is a worse approximation for the larger values of N than it is for the smaller values, with errors as high as 140% (20%) for the excitation energies of the seniority-zero (-two) states. The methods used in the calculation of these states are outlined.
Richardson equations can be mapped on the classical electrostatic problem in two dimensions. We have recently suggested a new analytical approach to these equations in the thermodynamical limit, which is based on the `probability' of the system of charges to be in a given configuration at the effective temperature equal to the interaction constant. In this paper, we apply this approach to excited states of the Richardson pairing model. We focus on the equally-spaced situation and address arbitrary fillings of the energy layer, where interaction acts. The `partition function' for the classical problem on the plane, which is given by the Selberg-type integral, is evaluated exactly. Three regimes for the energy gap are identified, which can be treated as the dilute regime of pairs, BCS regime, and dilute regime of holes.