Eur. Phys. J. B (2014) 87: 119
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2014-50143-0

Regular Article

Transport equations for superconductors in the presence of spin interaction

Institute for Quantum Information, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany

^a e-mail: konschelle@physik.rwth-aachen.de

Received: 3 March 2014
Received in final form: 3 April 2014
Published online: 26 May 2014

Abstract

Quasi-classical theory of superconductivity provides a powerful and yet simple description of the superconductivity phenomenology. In particular, the Eilenberger and Usadel equations provide a neat simplification of the description of the superconducting state in the presence of disorder and electromagnetic interaction. However, the modern aspects of superconductivity require a correct description of the spin interaction as well. Here, we generalize the transport equations of superconductivity in order to take into account space-time dependent electromagnetic and spin interactions on equal footing. Using a gauge-covariant Wigner transformation for the Green-Gor’kov correlation functions, we establish the correspondence between the Dyson-Gor’kov equation and the quasi-classical transport equation in the time-dependent phase-space. We give the expressions for the gauge-covariant current and charge densities (quasi-particle, electric and spin) in the transport formulation. The generalized Eilenberger and Usadel limits of the transport equation are given, too. This study is devoted to the formal derivation of the equations of motion in the electromagnetic plus spin plus particle-hole space. The studies of some specific systems are postponed to future works.