Boundary superconductivity in the BCS model (Q6111646)

Summary: We consider the linear BCS equation, determining the BCS critical temperature, in the presence of a boundary, where Dirichlet boundary conditions are imposed. In the one-dimensional case with point interactions, we prove that the critical temperature is strictly larger than the bulk value, at least at weak coupling. In particular, the Cooper-pair wave function localizes near the boundary, an effect that cannot be modeled by effective Neumann boundary conditions on the order parameter as often imposed in Ginzburg-Landau theory. We also show that the relative shift in critical temperature vanishes if the coupling constant either goes to zero or to infinity.