The superconducting transition in coupled linear chain systems

The superconducting transition and the critical fluctuations of a model system that can pass continuously from one-dimension to three-dimensions are investigated. The transition is brought about by a variable coupling between families of linear chains. First, a Bose lattice-gas is considered, and the Bose-Einstein transition temperature T_BE is calculated as a function of the coupling strength. Second, the temperature T_oz at which the fluctuations in the gap parameter equal the average gap parameter is calculated as a function of the coupling, and is found to behave in a similar way to T_BE. Both these temperatures go continuously to zero as the system becomes one-dimensional while T_c calculated in mean-field theory does not vanish in this limit. It is found that for coupling parameters believed to be characteristic of some superconductors possessing the A-15 crystal structure, such as Nb₃Sn, the system is essentially three-dimensional (3D) as far as superconducting properties are concerned; but critical fluctuations may be somewhat enhanced, in particular when the electronic density of states is not very large.