Anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg theory using Wannier functions

Abstract

We combine the fully anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg theory with electron-phonon interpolation based on maximally-localized Wannier functions, in order to perform reliable and highly accurate calculations of the anisotropic temperature-dependent superconducting gap and critical temperature of conventional superconductors. Compared with the widely used McMillan approximation, our methodology yields a more comprehensive and detailed description of superconducting properties, and is especially relevant for the study of layered or low-dimensional systems as well as systems with complex Fermi surfaces. In order to validate our method we perform calculations on two prototypical superconductors, Pb and MgB$_2$, and obtain good agreement with previous studies.