Multi-Component Ginzburg-Landau Theory: Microscopic Derivation and Examples

Abstract

This paper consists of three parts. In part I, we microscopically derive Ginzburg–Landau (GL) theory from BCS theory for translation-invariant systems in which multiple types of superconductivity may coexist. Our motivation are unconventional superconductors. We allow the ground state of the effective gap operator K_(Tc) +V to be n-fold degenerate and the resulting GL theory then couples n order parameters. In part II, we study examples of multi-component GL theories which arise from an isotropic BCS theory. We study the cases of (a) pure d-wave order parameters and (b) mixed (s + d)-wave order parameters, in two and three-dimensions. In part III, we present explicit choices of spherically symmetric interactions V which produce the examples in part II. In fact, we find interactions V which produce ground state sectors of K_(Tc) +V of arbitrary angular momentum, for open sets of of parameter values. This is in stark contrast with Schrödinger operators −∇^2 +V, for which the ground state is always non-degenerate. Along the way, we prove the following fact about Bessel functions: At its first maximum, a half-integer Bessel function is strictly larger than all other half-integer Bessel functions.

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