Electrodynamics of Perfect Conductors

Abstract

The most general electrodynamic equations of a perfect conducting state are obtained using a variational principle in a classical framework, following an approach by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes. London equations are derived as the time-independent case of these equations, corresponding to the magnetostatic minimal energy state of the perfect conducting system. For further confirmation, the same equations are also derived in the classical limit of the Coleman-Weinberg model, the most successful quantum macroscopic theory of superconductivity. The magnetic field expulsion is, therefore, a direct consequence of zero resistivity and not an exclusive property of superconductors.