Thermodynamics of superconducting lattice fermions

Abstract

We consider the Cooper-problem on a lattice model including onsite and near-neighbor interactions. Expanding the interaction in basis functions for the irreducible representation for the point group $C_{4v}$ yields a classification of the symmetry of the Cooper-pair wave function, which we calculate in real-space. A change of symmetry upon doping, from s-wave at low filling fractions, to $d_{x^2-y^2}$ at higher filling fractions, is found. Fermi-surface details are thus important for the symmetry of the superconducting wave function. Symmetry forbids mixing of s-wave and d-wave symmetry in the Cooper-pair wavefunction on a square lattice, unless accidental degeneracies occur. This conclusion also holds for the selfconsistent treatment of the many-body problem, at the critical temperature $T_c$. Below $T_c$, we find temperatures which are not critical points, where new superconducting channels open up in the order parameter due to bifurcations in the solutions of the nonlinear gap-equation. We calculate the free energy, entropy, coherence length, critical magnetic fields, and Ginzburg-Landau parameter $\kappa$. The model is of the extreme type-II variety. At the temperatures where subdominant channels condense, we find cusps in the internal energy and entropy, as well as as BCS-like discontinuities in the specific heat. The specific heat anomalies are however weaker than at the true superconducting critical point, and argued to be of a different nature.