Theory of Many-Particle Systems. II. Superconductivity

Abstract

A fermion system with a simple attractive interaction is discussed with the aid of time-dependent correlation functions. Although perturbation theory is inapplicable, a sequence of correlation approximations described in the first paper of this series can be employed. The lowest approximation in the sequence expresses the two-particle correlation function in terms of single-particle functions and leads to the Hartree approximation; the second expresses three-particle correlation function in terms of one- and two-particle correlation functions and leads to the time-dependent correlation functions that characterize the super-conducting model of Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer. In the second section of this paper these correlation functions are determined and the thermodynamic properties of the superconductor are calculated from them.