We apply to cuprates a three-fluid ideal boson-fermion statistical model of superconductivity in two dimensions (2D) derived from three extrema of the system Helmholtz free energy (subject to constant total fermion-number) for the BCS model interaction between fermions. The same interactions absent in BCS theory are neglected here. As the ensuing bosonic Cooper pairs move not in vacuum but in a Fermi sea we employ the correct linear — as opposed to the commonly-assumed quadratic — dispersion relation in the center-of-mass momentum (CMM). More importantly, pair breakup beyond a certain (very small) CMM is accounted for. Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) critical temperatures of about 800 K result for moderate coupling with cuprate parameters.
Various BCS-like pairing theories are still invariably used to describe the unusual superconducting/superfluid states and properties of condensed matters without clarifying the fermionic or bosonic nature of Cooper pairs and the relevant mechanisms of superconductivity and superfluidity. We show that the bosonization of Cooper pairs and the novel superconductivity and superfluidity resulting from the condensation of an attractive Bose gas of Cooper pairs into a superfluid state in high-Tc cuprates and other exotic systems occur under the condition εF≲2εA (where εF is the Fermi energy, εA is the energy of the effective attraction between fermions). We argue that the simple BCS criterion (i.e. formation of an energy gap on the Fermi surface) is insufficient for the occurrence of unconventional superconductivity (superfluidity) and the superconducting/superfluid transition in attractive Bose systems is more λ-like than the usual Bose–Einstein condensation. The new and specific criteria for unconventional superconductivity and superfluidity are formulated. Mean-field theory of the three- and two-dimensional superfluid Bose condensates of Cooper pairs describes reasonably well the novel superconducting states (i.e., two distinct superconducting phases below the bulk superconducting transition temperature Tc and a vortex-like state above Tc) and properties (such as λ-like transition at Tc, first-order phase transition and gapless bosonic excitations somewhat below Tc or even far below Tc) of high-Tc cuprates in full agreement with the experimental findings. The unusual superconducting/superfluid states and properties of heavy-fermion and organic compounds, Sr2RuO4, 3He, 4He and atomic Fermi gases are explained more clearly by this theory.
The two-dimensional boson-fermion model of high-temperature superconductors, numerically studied by Domanski (Phys. Rev. B v.66, 134512 (2002)) is not a superconductor. The critical temperature of the model is zero for any symmetry of the order parameter. The opposite conclusion advocated by Domanski and some other authors stems from an erroneous mean-field approximation neglecting the boson self-energy. The approximation is qualitatively incorrect even in three dimensions. Taking into account the boson self-energy changes the phase transition in 3D BFM, which is not a mean-field second-order phase transition. There are real bosons in the model at and below Tc of 3D BFM, but not only fermions and their Cooper pairs.
We consider a lattice version of the ``negative-
U′′ Hubbard model in three dimensions, to study the crossover from a superconducting phase transition (dominated by phase fluctuation) to a regime where the amplitude of the superconducting order parameter controls the critical temperature. Starting from a fermionic Hamiltonian, we give a microscopic derivation of the effective action in terms of the relevant physical fields: the modulus and phase of the superconducting order parameter. Furthermore, by employing to the resulting coarse--grained quantum
XY model the phase fluctuation algebra between number and phase operators (given by the Euclidean group
E2), we map the ``phase-only'' action onto a solvable quantum spherical model. We establish the self--consistent theory (involving both fermionic and bosonic degrees of freedom), and calculate the superconducting phase coherence transition temperature
Tc as a function of the coupling strength
∣U∣, exhibiting a maximum where the behavior crosses over from BCS to Bose-Einstein (BE) condensation. We examine a pseudogap in the normal state which emerges naturally as a precursor of superconductivity at the second characteristic temperature
Tg due to a state with bound pairs but without long--range phase coherence. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the reduced gaps of the model $2{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{0}{/k}_{B}{T}_{g}\ensuremath{\sim}4$ is almost independent on the pairing strength
∣U∣/t, whereas $2{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{0}{/k}_{B}{T}_{c}$ increases with increasing
∣U∣---in striking analogy with the phenomenology of the high--temperature cuprate superconductors when interpreted in terms of the BCS-BC crossover scenario.
We review Cooper pairing starting from its simplest, original 1956 version of two electrons interacting above the Fermi sea of an ideal Fermi gas (IFG). The two-electron interaction assumed extensively (if not exclusively), is the attractive two-parameter Cooper, and then BCS, model interactions. Hole Cooper pairs (CPs) and electron-hole CPs are then included along with the initial electron-CPs in terms of the single-fermion Green functions implied by the Bethe-Salpeter (BS) integral equation in the ladder approximation. A purely-imaginary CP energy "instability" is recovered that is well-documented in the literature at least since the late 1950's. A novel interpretation of this instability is that an unperturbed Hamiltonian different from the IFG one first used by Cooper suffices to obtain meaningful CPs. Instead of the IFG sea, a BCS-correlated Fermi "sea" used in the BS equation interpreted as the associated unperturbed Hamiltonian leads to real CP energies (with small imaginary terms implying damping). We survey how this has been achieved in 1D, 2D and 3D, and give a more detailed treatment in 2D. A vital distinction is that the original and generalized CPs are true bosons in contrast with BCS pairs that are not ordinary bosons but rather "hard-core bosons" as they do not obey strict Bose commutation rules. Another important common element of the original or generalized CPs (particularly in 2D where ordinary Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) does not occur) is their linear dispersion relation in leading order in the total (or, center-of-mass) momentum power-series expansion of the CP energy. This theory encompasses, in principle, all empirically known superconductors including quasi-2D superconductors such as cuprates and the ET organic compounds, as well as quasi-1D ones such as the organometallic Bechgaard salts and nanotubes.
A original microscopic theory of superfluidity and superconductivity driven by the single particle (SPC) and pair condensation (PC) of attracting bosons both in Fermi and in Bose systems is developed. This theory (as distinct from the existing theories) for Fermi systems contains two order parameters Δ F and Δ B characterizing the attracting fermion pairs and boson pairs, respectively. In such systems superconducting (SC) phase transition is accompanied, as a rule, by the formation of k-space composite bosons (e.g. Cooper pairs and bipolarons) with their subsequent transition to the superfluid (SF) state by attractive SPC and PC. A novel Fermi-liquid and SF Bose-liquid theories are elaborated for description this two-stage Fermi–Bose-liquid (FBL) scenario of SC (or SF) transition. The crossover from k- to real (r)-space pairing regime for BCS-like coupling constants γ F ≃ 0.7-0.9 and the irrelevance of r-space pairs to the superconductivity are shown. The developed SF Bose-liquid theory predicts the first-order phase transition SPC ↔ PC of attracting 3d-bosons with the kink-like behaviors of all SC (SF) parameters near [Formula: see text] in accordance with the observations in 4 He , 3 He and superconductors. It is argued that the coexistence of the order parameters Δ F and Δ B leads to the superconductivity by two FBL scenarios. One of these scenarios is realized in the so-called fermion (type I, II and III) superconductors (FSC) (where formation of k-space composite bosons and their condensation occur at the same temperature) and the other in the boson (type II and III) superconductors (BSC) (where BCS-like pairing take place in the normal state with manifesting of the second-order phase transition and opening of the pseudogap at T=T F > T c ). There the gapless superfluidity (superconductivity) is caused by the gapless excitation spectrum of bosons at [Formula: see text] and not by the presence of point or line nodes of the BCS-like gap Δ F assumed in some s-, p- and d-pairing models. The 3D- and 2D-insulator–metal–superconductor phase diagrams are presented. The necessary and sufficient microscopic criterions for superfluidity is formulated. The theory proposed are in close agreement with the observations in 4 He , 3 He , superconductors, nuclear and neutron star matter, cosmology, etc.