Physics in Canada / La Physique au Canada - 2011 (67.2)

'Conventional' Superconductivity: A Critical Assessment

Author(s)
Frank Marsiglio
Institution
University of Alberta and Member, CIFAR

This very short review examines two particular issues with the theory of conventional superconductivity. The first is that interacting electrons tend to become too strongly polaronic, and the second is that the direct Coulomb repulsion between electrons is inadequately treated. In our opinion both these issues remain unsolved problems in the BCS/Migdal-Eliashberg framework.