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Heuristic bounds on superconductivity and how to exceed them

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

J.S. Hofmann
Debanjan Chowdhury
S.A. Kivelson
E. Berg

Abstract

What limits the value of the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) is a question of great fundamental and practical importance. Various heuristic upper bounds on Tc have been proposed, expressed as fractions of the Fermi temperature, TF, the zero-temperature superfluid stiffness, ρs(0), or a characteristic Debye frequency, ω0. We show that while these bounds are physically motivated and are certainly useful in many relevant situations, none of them serve as a fundamental bound on Tc. To demonstrate this, we provide explicit models where Tc/TF (with an appropriately defined TF), Tc/ρs(0), and Tc/ω0 are unbounded. © 2022, The Author(s).

Date Published

Journal

npj Quantum Materials

Volume

7

Issue

1

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85137200187&doi=10.1038%2fs41535-022-00491-1&partnerID=40&md5=95f30668fea21869c11fb2946149e1db

DOI

10.1038/s41535-022-00491-1

Group (Lab)

Debanjan Chowdhury Group

Funding Source

DMR2000987
817799

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