Equilibrium and non-equilibrium properties of superfluids and superconductors (Q1696958)

This review paper is concerned with some results on the equilibrium and non-equilibrium properties of superfluids and superconductors. It is shown that current-carrying states cannot be thermal equilibrium states. In the case of superfluidity, it is argued that ground states cannot be equilibrium states if a certain condition on the limit points (possibly along subsequences) of the energy-momentum spectrum of finite systems is met. Moreover, in the latter case, the systems describe non-equilibrium stationary states. In the case of the Girardeau-Lieb-Liniger model it is shown that the energy spectrum of the infinite system is unbounded from below. In the specific case of the Girardeau model, this unboundedness from below is related to the existence of certain elementary excitations -- the umklapp excitations -- which derive from the existence of an effective ``Fermi distribution'' for the Boson system. The paper also discusses equilibrium issues for the Meissner effect in superconductivity.