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Vladimir Kozhevnikov | The Racah Institute of Physics

Vladimir Kozhevnikov

Date: 
Thu, 10/11/202212:15-13:15
Zeroes in Superconductivity and Novel Approaches to Measure Microscopic

Properties of Superconductors*
Vladimir Kozhevnikov

Tulsa Community College, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Zero, or inverse infinity, is a special number or value which, at first glance, has no physical
meaning. Recall that zero was absent in Roman calculus. Indeed, what does it mean to
measure a quantity having zero magnitude? What would be a relative uncertainty of such a
measurement? It is generally believed that a physical quantity can approach infinitely close
to zero, but cannot be equal to it. Superconductivity demonstrates right the opposite,
namely that some characteristics of superconductors take an exactly zero value in the entire
temperature and field range of the superconducting state. Remarkably, that
superconductivity was discovered by Kamerlingh Onnes in the same year, when Ernest
Rutherford discovered that electrons in atoms make closed currents with exactly zero
losses. However, superconductors are "richer" by zeroes: the most important of them are
zero resistance, zero entropy and zero magnetic induction. Respectively, any adequate
theory of superconductivity should automatically lead to these three “big zeroes”. As
known, no standard theory meets this condition.
In this talk I will present a novel theoretical model reproducing the aforementioned zeroes
and other properties of superconductors. The model is based on the concept of Cooper pairs
obeying the Borh-Sommerfeld quantization condition. The model consistently describes
properties of the Meissner state and beyond, including non-equilibrium properties of
superconductors caused by a total current; some of them, being known for many decades
are explained for the first time. The model is free from the shortcomings of standard
theories, while reproducing their achievements. It will be shown that in addition to the “big
zeroes”, superconductors have two more very important zeros: zero generalized linear
momentum of Cooper pairs and zero temperature of an ensemble of the pairs. All
properties have a single origin: quantization of the angular momentum of the paired
electrons. The model predicts a number of new effects that can help resolving the problem
of electron pairing in all superconductors. These effects will be discussed.
*V. K., Meissner Effect. History of Development and Novel Aspects, J Supercond Nov
Magn 34, 1979-2009 (2021); Electrodynamics of Superconductors, in Encyclopedia of
Condensed Matter Physics, 2nd ed., Elsevier 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-
90800-9.00036-6).