Functional Derivative Techniques in the Theory of Superconductivity

Abstract

The equations for the Green's functions of the theory of superconductivity are developed in an iterative scheme in which the two-particle function is rewritten as the functional derivative of the single-particle function with respect to external-source terms. When a source coupled to electron pairs in addition to an external potential coupled to the charge density is included in the Hamiltonian, the possibility for a gap in the single-particle excitations is found. The first order in the iteration scheme for the solution to the Green's function equations is independent of the way in which the two-particle function is generated, as the final result must be. Equations for the vertex functions are obtained and used to find the linear response of the current to an applied electromagnetic field. An exact solution to the vertex equation of interest is used to show that no current will be induced by a static longitudinal vector potential. In addition, all the functions calculated are found to have translationally invariant solutions. Thus, the original invariances of the Hamiltonian are restored when the source terms are set equal to zero. Corrections to the self-energy are estimated by using another of the solutions to the vertex equations.