ON THE EQUIVALENCE OF THE BINDING ENERGY OF A COOPER PAIR AND THE BCS ENERGY GAP: A FRAMEWORK FOR DEALING WITH COMPOSITE SUPERCONDUCTORS

Abstract

Employing the Bethe–Salpeter equation (BSE) and the Matsubara recipe, and invoking both the electron–electron and the hole–hole scattering channels, we establish that the binding energy (W) of a Cooper pair (CP) is real, and equals the BCS energy gap (Δ) for all T ≤ Tc for a one-component superconductor. Given that the BCS theory is a generalization of the Hartree–Fock theory (generalized to allow for particle number fluctuations), the cognescenti would expect this result as a direct consequence of Koopman's theorem, proved for and well-known in the latter theory. However, this theorem is seldom mentioned in the literature on superconductivity; on the contrary, there is the statement in well-known texts that the binding energy of a CP becomes imaginary when the above-stated scattering channels are invoked for their formation. The importance of |W| = |Δ| for high-Tc superconductors is brought out by replacing the one-particle propagator in the BSE by a superpropagator — a field-theoretic construct apt for dealing with composite superconductors (CSs). A set of generalized BCS equations is thus obtained which, with the input of the multiple gaps of a CS, enables one to calculate its Tc uniquely. Applications of these equations will be taken up in a subsequent paper.