Theory of Fluctuations in Superconductors

This book describes the theory of superconducting fluctuations, which connects two major topics in statistical physics - the theory of phase transitions and the theory of superconductivity. It presents a complete encyclopedia of superconducting fluctuations, summarising the last thirty-five years of work in the field.

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This book presents a complete encyclopaedia of superconducting fluctuations, summarising the last thirty-five years of work in the field. The first part of the book is devoted to an extended discussion of the Ginzburg-Landau phenomenology of fluctuations in its thermodynamical and time-dependent versions and its various applications. The second part deals with microscopic justification of the Ginzburg-Landau approach and presents the diagrammatic theory of fluctuations. The third part is devoted to a less-detailed review of the manifestation of fluctuations in observables: diamagnetism, magnetoconductivity, various tunneling characteristics, thermoelectricity, and NMR relaxation. The final chapters turn to the manifestation of fluctuations in unconventional superconducting systems: nanodrops, nanorings, Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless state, quantum phase transition between superconductor and insulator, and thermal and quantum fluctuations in weak superconducting systems. The book ends with a brief discussion on theories of high temperature superconductivity, where fluctuations appear as the possible protagonist of this exciting phenomenon.