A new superconducting interaction in metallic hydrogen

Abstract

A new theory of superconductivity is suggested from an examination of the energy levels of metallic hydrogen, where the levels are computed from a perturbation expansion in the configuration space of N electrons and N nuclei. The leading terms in the expansion indicate that states exist which lie lower than the normal state if the nuclei are sufficiently heavy. The interaction which leads to the superconducting state is quite different from that incorporated in current models, since it arises from a long-range, electronic screening of the zero-point oscillations of the nuclei. The energy is lowered because the superconducting state is more effective in screening long-wavelength virtual phonons.