APS Logo

How Alfven's theorem explains the Meissner effect

ORAL

Abstract

Alfven's theorem states that in a perfectly conducting fluid magnetic field lines move with the fluid without dissipation. When a metal becomes superconducting in the presence of a magnetic field, magnetic field lines move from the interior to the surface (Meissner effect) in a reversible way. This indicates that a perfectly conducting fluid is flowing outward. I explain the nature of this fluid and show that it carries neither charge nor mass, but carries effective mass. This implies that the effective mass of carriers is lowered when a system goes from the normal to the superconducting state, which agrees with the prediction of the unconventional theory of hole superconductivity, with optical and photoemission experiments in some superconducting materials, and with Bardeen's first theory of superconductivity. The 60-year old conventional understanding of the Meissner effect ignores Alfven's theorem and for that reason I argue that it does not provide a valid understanding of real superconductors.

Presenters

  • Jorge Hirsch

    University of California, San Diego

Authors

  • Jorge Hirsch

    University of California, San Diego