Experimentally, the concentration of quasiparticles in gapped superconductors always largely exceeds the equilibrium one at low temperatures. Since these quasiparticles are detrimental for many applications, it is important to understand theoretically the origin of the excess. We demonstrate in detail that the dynamics of quasiparticles localized at spatial fluctuations of the gap edge becomes exponentially slow. This gives rise to the observed excess in the presence of a vanishingly weak nonequilibrium agent.

• Received 14 March 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.117002