Defying inertia: how rotating superconductors generate magnetic fields

Abstract

I discuss the process of magnetic field generation in rotating superconductors in simply connected and multiply connected geometries. In cooling a normal metal into the superconducting state while it is rotating, electrons slow down or speed up depending on the geometry and their location in the sample, apparently defying inertia. I argue that the conventional theory of superconductivity does not explain these processes. Instead, the theory of hole superconductivity does. Its predictions agree with experimental observations of Hendricks, King and Rohrschach for solid and hollow cylinders.