Topological gauge theory of vortices in type-III superconductors

M. C. Diamantini; C. A. Trugenberger; V. M. Vinokur

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.110.094506

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Topological gauge theory of vortices in type-III superconductors

M. C. Diamantini, C. A. Trugenberger, V. M. Vinokur

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.110.094506 · Physical Review B

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Abstract

Usual superconductors fall into two categories, type I, expelling magnetic fields, and type II, into which magnetic fields exceeding a lower critical field Hc1 penetrate in a form of vortices characterized by two scales, the size of the normal core, ξ, and the London penetration depth λ. Here we demonstrate that a type-III superconductivity, realized in granular media in any dimension, hosts vortex physics in which vortices have no cores, are logarithmically confined, and carry only a gauge scale λ. Accordingly, in type-III superconductors Hc1=0 at zero temperature and the Ginzburg-Landau theory must be replaced by a topological gauge theory. Type-III superconductivity is destroyed not by Cooper pair breaking but by vortex proliferation generalizing the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless mechanism to any dimension.