ABSTRACT

Recently Friedberg, Lee and Ren have pointed out that at low density the ideal charged boson system turns out not to be a superconductor, but becomes a type II superconductor at high density. This conclusion differs from the well-known Schafroth solution of superconductivity at any density for the same problem. Schafroth's analysis is found to contain a mistake due to the neglect of the electrostatic exchange energy Eex. Based on the Schafroth solution, Eex is shown to be +∞ in the normal phase, but 0 in the condensed phase (at T = 0). Of course, the correct solution has to give a finite Eex.

This research was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy.

SCHAFROTH'S SOLUTION

Schafroth's superconductivity solution of an ideal charged boson system published 35 years ago has always been considered to be the definitive work, comparable in depth to the analysis made by Landau on the diamagnetism of an ideal charged fermion system. However, recently it was found that the Schafroth solution contains a serious mistake due to the neglect of the electrostatic exchange energy Eex. It turns out that based on the Schafroth solution, Eex is +∞ in the normal phase, but 0 in the condensed phase (at T = 0). Of course, the correct solution has to give a finite Eex.

For ideal charged particles, bosons or fermions, there is only the electromagnetic interaction.