Spin-vortex Superconductivity

Abstract

We present a theory of superconductivity based on the theoretical prediction that a macroscopic persistent current is generated by spin-vortices. It explains the origin of the phase variable θ that is canonical conjugate to the superfluid density as a Berry phase arising from the spin-vortex formation. This superconductivity does not require Cooper-pairs as charge carriers, thus, is not directly related to the standard theory based on the BCS one; however, it exhibits the flux quantization in the unit Φ 0=hc/2|e|, where h is Planck's constant, c the speed of light, and e the electron charge; and the AC Josephson frequency, f J=2|e|V/h, where V is the voltage of the battery connected to the superconductor-insulator- superconductor junction. In due course, it is found that the standard derivation of the AC Josephson frequency misses a term arising from the flow of particles through the leads connected to the junction. If this contribution is included, the observed f J indicates that the phase θ is a variable conjugate to the number density of charge e carriers instead of the currently accepted charge 2e carriers. We propose an experiment that discriminates whether it is e or 2e. If the above claim is verified, it means that the BCS theory cannot predict whether a particular compound is a superconductor or not since it does not explain the origin of θ. A connection between the present mechanism and the BCS mechanism is discussed; the fact that the BCS theory gives an excellent estimate of T c is attributed to the fact that it predicts the temperature at which spin-vortices become long-lived due to the energy gap formation; since the stabilization by the electron-pair formation is compatible with the present mechanism, asymmetries observed in the even and odd number of electron systems are preserved. The most notable difference is that the persistent current generation is formulated in a strictly particle-number-conserving manner. Thus, it does not violate the superselection rule for the total charge. © 2011 The Author(s).